نوع مقاله : کارآزمایی بالینی تصادفی شده
نویسندگان
1 استادیار گروه روانشناسی، دانشکده علوم انسانی، دانشگاه مراغه، مراغه، ایران
2 دکترای روانشناسی، دانشکده علوم تربیتی و روانشناسی، دانشگاه محقق اردبیلی، اردبیل، ایران
چکیده
کلیدواژهها
عنوان مقاله [English]
نویسندگان [English]
The integrated behavioral couple therapy is one of the valuable methods and evidence-based that has been supported by many studies. The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of integrated behavioral couple therapy in the emotional divorce of couples in Maragheh. The statistical population of the study (98 people) included all spouses who referred to the Counseling Center of Omid Maragheh in 1998. The study sample consisted of three couples who selected using a targeted sampling method. The method of the present study was a single case study of multiple-step lines. Treatment was performed whit using the Gatman Excitement Measurement Scale (1994). The treatment protocol was implemented in 16 sessions. Data were analyzed by visual mapping, constant change index, and recovery percentage. The findings showed that couple therapy combined at the end of treatment resulted in a 56.33% improvement in emotional divorce in the first couple, 53.1% improvement in the second couple, and 72% improvement in the third couple. A stable change index of 4.63 was obtained. This amount of the indicator of stable change shows that reducing the emotional divorce of all 6 people are clinically significant. The results of three months of follow-up showed that these results remained almost constant. Therefore, it can be concluded that couple therapy on the reduction of emotional divorce in the short and long term in couples in Maragheh has the necessary efficiency and therapists can use this model in working with couples to increase emotional intimacy in couples.
کلیدواژهها [English]
Introduction
Divorce is one of the most important family traumas that lead to persons, family, and social breakdown and has more negative effects on women than men (Musai, Tavasoli, & Mehrara, 2011). The main goal of this type of treatment is to create emotional acceptance in couples about the current differences between them and the differences that can always exist (Christensen, 2017). Research has shown the effectiveness of couple therapy in increasing marital adjustment (Christensen, Atkins, Baucom, & Yi, 2010), the emotional and sexual intimacy of couples (Hoyer, Uhmann, Rambow& Jacobi, 2009), interactive patterns (Baucom, Sevier, Eldrige, Doss& Christensen, 2011), indicating a decrease in negative emotions and marital adjustment of couples (Yoo, Barraca, Bartle-Haring, Day, & Gangamma, 2014) and improved communication patterns (Perissutti & Barraca, 2013). Due to the lack of adequate research on the effectiveness of this treatment in Iranian couples with the problem of emotional divorce in this study, the following hypothesis was examined: The effectiveness of combined behavioral therapy in couples in Maragheh city with the problem of emotional divorce is clinically significant.
Methodology
The present method was a single-experimental experiment with multiple baselines. The statistical population of the present study included couples who referred to Omid Maragheh Counseling Center in 1398, considering the emotional problems due to emotional problems. Couple therapy was presented in 16 sessions.
Emotional Divorce Scale (EDS): An Emotional Divorce Scale developed by Gattman in 1994. This questionnaire was reported in the study (L. Hashemi & Homayuni, 2017). In the study (Pourhosein & Bidast, 2014), Cronbach's alpha for the reliability of the questionnaire was reported to be 0.83.
Results and discussion
Findings from all three couples on the emotional divorce scale are shown in Table 1.
Table1.
Findings of all three couples
3 Female*Man |
2 Female*Man |
1 Female*Man |
Intervention stage |
- |
16*14 |
14*16 |
Baseline1 |
19*13 |
15*14 |
15*14 |
Baseline2 |
18*15 |
16*15 |
16*15 |
Baselne3 |
18*13 |
16*14 |
16*14 |
Baseline4 |
16*14 |
15.75*14.25 |
15.75*14.25 |
Average baseline stage |
9*10 |
10*10 |
10*10 |
First score |
7*8 |
8*10 |
8*10 |
Second score |
6*8 |
6*7 |
6*7 |
Score of last session |
7.3*8.6 |
8.3*8.6 |
8.3*8.6 |
The average stage of treatment |
53 |
56.1 |
56.33 |
Improvement percentage |
The effectiveness of this method in reducing emotional divorce showed that treatment has succeeded in making a significant clinical change in couples.
The results for the clinical significance of variable emotional divorce are presented in Table 2:
Table 2.
Emotional Divorce Scores
difference between post-test-pre-test |
Pre-test |
post-test |
The subject |
6 |
8 |
14 |
1 |
10 |
6 |
16 |
2 |
9 |
6 |
15 |
3 |
15 |
5 |
19 |
4 |
7 |
6 |
13 |
5 |
14 |
6 |
20 |
6 |
It can be said that the reduction of emotional divorce of couples, which are marked in the table with the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, is clinically significant.
Conclusion
The aim of this study was to test the effect of the integrated behavioral couple therapy in reducing the couple's emotional divorce. The results showed that all six people had significant changes in treatment goals compared to the baseline session in the treatment process and beyond. The findings of this study were consistent with other research in this field. Explaining the results of treatment in couples in this study, it can be said that one of the characteristics of couple therapy is that helps couples to use their differences as a means of greater intimacy. This unique feature of couple therapy combined can help couples with emotional problems regain their lost intimacy despite their differences and problems. Of course, more studies are needed to make a definite conclusion. Limitations of this research include available sampling, self-report of the variable under study, and short-term follow-up time. Therefore, it recommended using other methods such as interview and follow-up studies in longer periods and in order to generalize the results, sample size in age, and time limits. Different types of marriage should study.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank all the participants in this study.
Authors’ contributions
In conducting this research the first author of treatment, data collection, writing this article, and the second author participated in statistical analysis and writing this article.
Funding
The study was conducted at the personal expense of researchers.
Availability of data and materials
The study used an emotional divorce questionnaire. These questionnaires are easily accessible to researchers
Ethics approval and consent to participate
All participants in the study participated in the study by filling out a consent form, and the researchers assured them that the results of the research were confidential.
Consent for publication
Researchers are pleased to announce the publication of this article
Competing interests
This research is not in conflict with personal or organizational interests. The first author of this study is a faculty member of University of Maragheh and the second author is a PhD graduate of Mohaghegh Ardabili University