The Efficacy of Life-Enhancement Program on Mental Health and Marital Satisfaction

The negative consequences of unsuccessful marriages necessitates improvements in the attitudes and skills that are related to martial relationships. The present research examined the effectiveness of Gottman approach on stabilizing and enhancement of couple's relationships. 16 couples with marital problems were randomly assigned to a control or an experimental group. The measures were Enrich's Marital Satisfaction Scale, DOS, and General Mental Health Questionnaire. The data analyses conducted included t-test and Repeated Measures of Covariance. Results showed that, at pre-test, the groups differed from one another on none of the measures. At post-test, only participants in the experimental group showed significant increases in all indices of mental health and in their marital satisfaction. In addition, the observed positive changes lasted in the experimental group after a 30-day follow up study.