The effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy on the level of avoidance, marital satisfaction and communication skills of couples referring to Faraja counseling centers

Paying attention to couples' communication patterns is very important in solving marital conflicts. This research was conducted with the aim of investigating the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy on avoidance, marital satisfaction and communication skills of couples.

This research was semi-experimental in the form of a pre-test-post-test design with a control group and a follow-up period. The research population was formed by couples who referred to counseling centers and psychology offices in Tehran in 1401 (13 centers), and based on Cohen's table, 30 women were randomly selected in two groups 15 by available and voluntary sampling method. The subjects were tested and controlled; The experimental group received 8 sessions of 90-minute group therapy training based on acceptance and commitment based on Forman and Herbert (2008) treatment package, while the control group did not receive any intervention. The data were collected using Yang and Rigg (1994) avoidance questionnaires, Enrich marital satisfaction (1989) and Jarabek (2004) communication skills with Cronbach's alpha 0.88, 0.79 and 0.78, respectively. Univariate and multivariate analysis of covariance tests were analyzed.

The research showed that the mean scores of avoidance, marital satisfaction and communication skills of couples in the post-test increased in the experimental group, and the results of the repeated measures analysis of variance indicated the effect of acceptance and commitment therapy on reducing avoidance. (P≥0.001), increased marital satisfaction (P≥0.001) and communication skills (P≥0.001) of couples and the stability of this effect was in the follow-up phase..