Comparison of the effectiveness and durability of motivational interview and meta-diagnostic treatment on marital adjustment of couples referring to counseling centers in Shahrekord

Incompatibility is opposite to compatibility, and when compatibility between couples decreases, incompatibility gradually takes its place. It can almost be said that all couples experience this type of incompatibility more or less; But sometimes the amount and intensity of incompatibility reaches such a point that couples cannot tolerate each other and this incompatibility may lead to violence, divorce and separation (3). Considering the importance of the topic, it will be very beneficial to identify effective intervention and educational approaches in order to increase marital compatibility in order to improve couples' relationships. In motivational interviewing, the goal is to guide the client to discover the discrepancy between his expectations from different aspects of his life and his current behaviors. As a result, evaluating and resolving ambivalence and inconsistency is one of the main goals of motivational interviewing (4). Considering the above contents and the effect of compatibility in married life on the one hand and the effect of meta-diagnostic treatment and motivational interview on the other hand on different aspects of married life and since by reviewing the research done inside and outside the country, a research on the topic in question not found. The researchers are trying to answer these questions, whether there is a difference between the effectiveness of motivational interviewing and meta-diagnostic therapy on the marital adjustment of couples referring to counseling centers in Shahrekord city. Which method is more effective?

To conduct the current semi-experimental research, which was pre-test-post-test-follow-up and control group. Out of all the couples referring to counseling centers in Shahrekord city in 2014-2016, 1250 couples based on the criteria for entering the research and based on this to determine the sample size based on the sources related to the research methodology (10), 20 couples were assigned to the experimental group of motivational interviewing. 20 couples were assigned to the extradiagnostic treatment test group and 20 couples to the control group. Then the subjects completed the Locke-Wallace compatibility test in 1959 in the pre-test. In the following, the intervention test groups received one 90-minute session per week for two months at the counseling center of Nasim Aramesh in Shahrekord. In order to implement the training package of motivational interviewing, it is extracted from the motivational group book based on the curriculum and it is performed on the group in eight sessions, one session per week and each session lasts 90 minutes. Also, meta-diagnostic therapy is also implemented in eight 90-minute training sessions, one session a week and during two months in the form of groups with twenty couples (Tables 1 and 2) (9,10). Finally, descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) and statistical tests of analysis of variance with repeated measurements, multivariate analysis of variance and Bonferroni's post hoc analysis were used using SPSS version 25 software to analyze the research data.

The results showed that in the marital adjustment variable, the average difference between the research groups (motivational interview group, meta-diagnostic treatment and control group) in the pre-test stage is not significant (Table 3). Another finding showed that the average scores of the variable of marital adjustment of couples, apart from the effect of grouping, were affected by a significant change during the post-test and follow-up stages, which has a significant difference with the pre-test. On the other hand, it was found that the grouping variable (extradiagnostic treatment group) has a significant effect on the marital adjustment variable regardless of the stages (pre-test, post-test and follow-up). This issue shows the significant effect of meta-diagnostic treatment group therapy compared to control group 1. Also, the results showed that the variable interaction of stages and grouping explain 12% of the changes in marital adjustment (Table 4). It was also found that the difference between the average scores of the pre-test and the post-test is significant with the follow-up of the marital adjustment variable. This is despite the fact that there is no significant difference between the mean of the post-test and the follow-up of this variable. This means that the mean scores of marital adjustment in the follow-up phase have not changed significantly compared to the post-test, but due to the lack of decrease in the follow-up scores compared to the post-test and the significant change in the follow-up scores compared to the pre-test, it shows that the effectiveness of the group therapy of extra-diagnostic treatment on marital adjustment during Time is maintained (Table 5). Finally, the results of the follow-up test showed that the difference between the average marital adjustment scores of the meta-diagnostic treatment test group and the motivational interview test group was not significant, and this finding means that the effectiveness of the meta-diagnostic novel and motivational interview on the level of marital adjustment did not have a significant difference; But the difference between the experimental groups (metadiagnostic therapy and motivational interview) and the control group was significant. In a summary, it can be stated as follows: meta-diagnostic treatment intervention and motivational interviewing have a significant effect on marital compatibility; However, the effectiveness of meta-diagnostic treatment and motivational interviewing on marital adjustment are not significantly different (Table 7).

The results of the present study showed that motivational interviewing has a significant effect on improving marital adjustment, and the results obtained are stable in the follow-up phase; which is consistent with the results of other researchers (11).
In the explanation above, it can be said that motivational interviewing follows client-centered therapeutic principles in which empathic and supportive counseling styles along with continuous interpersonal interaction are the basis of the work. Motivational interviewing with a positive effect on psychological well-being makes couples accept their different aspects and have a more compatible attitude towards themselves, life and spouse. Accepting differences during motivational interviewing increases the ability to love, warm and trusted relationships, the ability to empathize with your spouse, the ability to stand up to the pressures of life, having a purpose and finding meaning in life, and the feeling of constant growth, and ultimately increasing marital compatibility; Therefore, the use of motivational interviewing can lead to marital adjustment; Because the basic principles of motivational interviewing are strengthening the client's sense of self-efficacy in all behavioral changes. Many of the group motivational interviewing techniques used in this research, such as assessment of trust commitment, behavior control, participation in decision-making and resolving ambivalence, are exclusively related to adopting adaptive approaches in marital relationships (8). The findings of the current research also showed that meta-diagnostic treatment has a significant effect on improving marital adjustment, and the results obtained in the follow-up phase were also stable; which is consistent with the results of other researchers (12,13). In the explanation above, it can be said that the strategies of self-control of thoughts, exposure, prevention and response management were part of the skills used in the meta-diagnostic treatment program; Facilitates the identification of thoughts affecting emotions and behaviors that generate interactive problems. In meta-diagnostic treatment sessions, people learn that all emotions, both positive and negative, are important and necessary, and our goal is not to eliminate; Rather, it is identifying, tolerating and coping with negative emotions that these behavioral changes lead to greater compatibility in marital relationships.