Determining the Effectiveness of Cognitive-Behavioral Couple Therapy on Marital Conflict, Marital Boredom, and Emotional Self-regulation of Couples at Risk of Divorce in Baneh City, Iran

The increased marital dissatisfaction has raised the tendency towards divorce. Marital conflicts and lack of ability to resolve conflicts are among the marital disabilities and abnormalities that cause mental problems and indifference and divorced couples. Couples need emotion regulation and management to communicate intimately. Emotional skills increase the ability to bear the psychological pressures of life and solve daily problems. Conflicts and lack of emotion regulation in couples lead to marital boredom. Marital boredom is a painful physical, emotional, and psychological condition that affects people who expect a romantic relationship from their marriage. The treatment of marital conflicts is important for the family. The present study was conducted to determine the effectiveness of cognitive–behavioral couple therapy on marital conflicts, marital boredom, and emotional self–regulation of couples at risk of divorce in Baneh City, Iran.

This was a quasi–experimental study with a pretest–posttest and follow–up design with a control group. The study’s statistical population included all couples referred to the Baneh Dispute Resolution Council in the spring of 2021. Among these couples, 30 couples were randomly selected and divided into experimental and control groups. The quasi–experimental design was used for this research with a control group and measurement of dependent variables in four time periods: pretest, posttest, one–month follow–up, and three–month follow–up. The inclusion criteria were as follows: husband or wife with at least fifth–grade education, divorce file in court, living in an environment during couple therapy interventions, and willingness to cooperate to receive couples therapy intervention. The exclusion criteria were not following the group rules stated in the first session and absenting more than one session in the intervention sessions. Couples in both groups answered the Marital Burnout Scale (Pines, 1996), Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (Gratz & Roemer, 2004), and Marital Conflicts Questionnaire (Sanaei Zaker & Barati, 1996) in four stages of assessment (pretest, posttest, one–month follow–up, and three–month follow–up). The cognitive–behavioral couple therapy protocol was developed by Azimifar (2014) and based on the treatment plan of McKay et al. (2006) and Dattilio (2010). The cognitive–behavioral couple therapy protocol consisted of 10 treatment sessions (each session 60 to 90 minutes). The content of the sessions was based on a cognitive–behavioral approach, in a step–by–step manner and with a weekly session for the participants. In each meeting, first, the purpose of the meeting, then the issues related to that meeting, were discussed and the members discussed and exchanged views. At the end of each session, the material was summarized and an assignment was presented for the next session. Descriptive statistics methods including mean, standard deviation and frequency distribution were used to summarize the data. Analysis of variance with repeated measurements, the Chi–square test and the Bonferroni post hoc test were used to analyze the data. Analysis was done by SPSS software version 23.

Results showed that the group effect (p<0.001), the time effect (p<0.001), and the interaction effect of time and group (p<0.001) on the variables of marital boredom, marital conflicts, and emotional self–regulation were significant. The results indicated a significant difference between the averages of the pretest with the posttest, and between the averages of the pretest with one–month and three–month follow–ups for the variables of marital boredom (p<0.001, p<0.001, respectively), marital conflicts (p<0.001, p<0.001, respectively), and emotional self–regulation (p<0.001, p<0.001, respectively). Also, the difference between the averages of the one–month follow–up stages and the three–month follow–up for the variables of marital boredom (p=0.024), marital conflicts (p<0.001) and emotional self–regulation (p<0.001) were found to be significant. The comparison of the average scores of the posttest and follow–up stages for the mentioned variables showed that the intervention in the follow–up stages did not continue to be effective.

Based on the findings of the research, group cognitive–behavioral couple therapy reduces marital conflicts, marital boredom, and emotional self–regulation, and counselors and psychotherapists should use this intervention in solving the problems of couples facing divorce.