The Effectiveness of Therapy Based on Acceptance and Realistic Commitment on Marital Adjustment and Marital Satisfaction of Couples on The Verge of Divorce

Marriage is the most sacred and complex relationship between two people of opposite sexes, which has wide and deep dimensions and multiple goals, and dealing with marital relations and promoting compatibility and satisfaction between couples can be considered one of the important missions from the individual to the social level. Therefore, the purpose of this research was to investigate the effectiveness of therapy based on acceptance and realistic commitment on marital adjustment and marital satisfaction of couples on the verge of divorce. In terms of purpose, the current research was of an applied type, and in terms of method, based on the research design and method, it was quasi-experimental with a pre-test and post-test design (with an experimental group and a control group and a three-month follow-up period). The statistical population used in the current study included all couples who referred to family counseling and couple therapy centers in the 5th district of Tehran in 2011. Among these people, 40 people (20 couples) were selected using the purposeful sampling method and randomly assigned to an experimental group (20 people or 10 couples) and a control group (20 people or 10 couples). Then, on the experimental group of the treatment package based on acceptance and realistic commitment based on the protocol of Afshari et al. (2022) was implemented. In order to collect data, the research tools included Marital Satisfaction Questionnaire (ENRICH) and Marital Compatibility Questionnaire (DAS). In order to statistically analyze the data, analysis of variance with repeated measures and Tukey's post hoc test and SPSS software version 26 were used F value and significance level were calculated in the variables of marital satisfaction (F = 7.76 and P = 0.002) and marital compatibility (F = 7.11 and P = 0.002). It can be concluded that the independent variable (treatment based on acceptance and realistic commitment) has significantly changed the dependent variables (marital satisfaction and marital compatibility). Therefore, it can be concluded that the changes made in the dependent variables were due to the implementation of the treatment based on acceptance and realistic commitment on the experimental group. The results of the LSD post hoc test showed that these effects were stable. based on the available findings, it can be concluded that the therapy based on acceptance and realistic commitment was effective on marital satisfaction and marital compatibility of couples on the verge of divorce. Therefore, it is suggested that experts benefit from the techniques of this approach in their work.