Community Health Journal

Community Health Journal

The Effectiveness of Couple Therapy Based on Mindfulness on Marital Trust and Marital Life Quality in Maladjusted Couples

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
1 PhD student of General Psychology, Department of Psychology, Ahvaz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Ahvaz, Iran.
2 Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Ahvaz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Ahvaz, Iran.
3 Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Ahvaz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Ahvaz, Iran
10.22123/chj.2024.456086.2091
Abstract
Introduction: Maladjusted couples have many marital problems and couple therapy methods can play an effective role in reducing their problems. Therefore, this study was conducted with the aim of determining the effectiveness of couple therapy based on mindfulness on marital trust and marital life quality in maladjusted couples.
Materials and Methods: The present study was quasi-experimental with a pre-test and post-test design with experimental and control groups. The research population was maladjusted couples who referred to counseling and psychological services centers and clinics of Ahvaz City in the autumn of 2023 (approximately 250 couples). The sample size for each group was considered 12 couples, and these couples were selected by purposive sampling method. The experimental group underwent 8 sessions of 90 minutes under couple therapy based on mindfulness and the control group did not receive any intervention. Data were collected using Marital Adjustment, Marital Trust, and Marital Life Quality Scales and analyzed using chi-square test and multivariate analysis of covariance.
Results: According to chi-square test results, there wasn’t any significant difference between the experimental and control groups in terms of education level, age, and marriage duration (p>0.05). Also, according to multivariate analysis of covariance results, couple therapy based on mindfulness led to an increase in marital trust (F=227.22, p<0.001) and marital life quality (F=167.65, p<0.001) in maladjusted couples.
Conclusion: Considering the effectiveness of couple therapy based on mindfulness on increasing marital trust and marital life quality in maladjusted couples, it is suggested that counselors and therapists use this method along with other effective methods to improve the psychological characteristics in vulnerable groups.
Keywords

  1. Lizano E, Hayes JL, Willard FS. A synthetic method to assay adhesion-family G-protein coupled receptors. Determination of the G-protein coupling profile of ADGRG6 (GPR126). BBRC 2021; 534:317-22.
  2. Ozguc S, Tanriverdi D. Relations between depression level and conflict resolution styles, marital adjustments of patients with major depression and their spouses. Archives of Psychiatric Nursing 2018; 32(3):337-42.
  3. Akun E, Batigun AD. Negative symptoms and recollections of parental rejection: The moderating roles of psychological maladjustment and gender. Psychiatry Research 2019; 275:332-7.
  4. Rafi H, Bogacz F, Sander D, Klimecki O. Impact of couple conflict and mediation on how romantic partners are seen: An fMRI study. Cortex 2020; 130:302-17.
  5. Brandes O, Stern A, Doron G. “I just can't trust my partner”: Evaluating associations between untrustworthiness obsessions, relationship obsessions and couples violence. JOCRD 2020; 24:100500.
  6. Avanti FT, Setiawan JL. The role of trust and forgiveness in marital intimacy on husbands or wives of dual-earner couples in Surabaya. JIKK 2022; 15(2):117-26.
  7. Zhou M, Zheng YQ, Chen YW, Cheng BY, Herrera-Viedma E, Wu J. A large-scale group consensus reaching approach considering self-confidence with two-tuple linguistic trust/distrust relationship and its application in life cycle sustainability assessment. Information Fusion 2023; 94:181-99.
  8. Lindstrom M. Marital status and generalized trust in other people: A population-based study. The Social Science Journal 2012; 49(1):20-3.
  9. Baugh LM, Cox DW, Young RA, Kealy D. Partner trust and childhood emotional maltreatment: The mediating and moderating roles of maladaptive schemas and psychological flexibility. Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science 2019; 12:66-73.
  10. Wagner A, Mosmann CP, Scheeren P, Levandowski DC. Conflict, conflict resolution and marital quality. Paidéia 2019; 29(e2019):1-9.
  11. Slarcher RB, Schoebi D. Protective processes underlying the links between marital quality and physical health.  Current Opinion in Psychology 2017; 13:148-52.
  12. Li X, Cao H, Lan J, Ju X, Zheng Y, Chen Y, et al. The association between transition pattern of marital conflict resolution style and marital quality trajectory during the early years of Chinese marriage. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships 2019; 36(1):153-86.
  13. Allendorf K, Ghimire DJ. Determinants of marital quality in an arranged marriage society. Social Science Research 2013; 42(1):59-70.
  14. Fitzgerald M, Morgan AA. Marital quality and depression as mediators linking childhood maltreatment to adult physical health. Child Abuse Neglect 2023; 141:106189.
  15. Zhang Y, Sun S, Ding J, Hua K. The effect of different surgical methods on female and male sexual activity and marital quality in patients with early-stage cervical cancer. Sexual Medicine 2020; 8(2):307-14.
  16. Nazarpour D, Zahrakar K, Pouryahya M, Davarniya R. Effectiveness of couple therapy based on imago relationship therapy: Its impact on couple burnout. Shefaye Khatam 2019; 7(4):51-60. [Persian]
  17. Rosen NO, Vaillancourt-Morel MP, Corsini-Munt S, Steben M, Delisle I, Baxter ML, et al. Predictors and moderators of provoked vestibulodynia treatment outcome following a randomized trial comparing cognitive-behavioral couple therapy to overnight Lidocaine. Behavior Therapy 2021; 52(6):1502-15.
  18. Kleinplatz PJ, Charest M, Paradis N, Ellis M, Rosen L, Menard AD, et al. Treatment of low sexual desire or frequency using a sexual enhancement group couples therapy approach. Journal of Sexual Medicine 2020; 17(7):1288-96.
  19. Winter F, Steffan A, Warth M, Ditzen B, Aguilar-Raab C. Mindfulness-based couple interventions: A systematic literature review.  Family Process 2021; 60(3):694-711.
  20. Bai Y, Ma JH, Yu Y, Wang ZW. Effect of cognitive-behavioral therapy or mindfulness therapy on pain and quality of life in patients with diabetic neuropathy: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Pain Management Nursing 2022; 23(6):861-70.
  21. Brotto LA, Bergeron S, Zdaniuk B, Driscoll M, Grabovac A, Sadownik LA, et al. A comparison of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy vs cognitive behavioral therapy for the treatment of provoked vestibulodynia in a hospital clinic setting. Journal of Sexual Medicine 2019; 16(6):909-23.
  22. Rash JA, Kavanagh VAJ, Garland SN. A meta-analysis of mindfulness-based therapies for insomnia and sleep disturbance moving toward processes of change. Sleep Medicine Clinics 2022; 17(3):329-53.
  23. Ramezani R, Moosavipour S, Pirani Z. Evaluation of the effectiveness of Islamic cognitive-behavioral couple therapy on early maladaptive schemas, satisfaction and marital trust in young couples. Journal of Applied Family Therapy 2022; 3(3):437-56. [Persian]
  24. Pashangian N, Key Khosravani M. The effectiveness of premarital education based on mindfulness on the quality of couples relationships of Bushehr city. IJPBS 2019; 17(1):110-120. [Persian]
  25. Kappen G, Karremans JC, Burk WJ, Buyukcan-Tetik A. On the association between mindfulness and romantic relationship satisfaction: The role of partner acceptance. Mindfulness 2018; 9(5):1543-56.
  26. Gharibboluk M, Hosseinzadeh S. The effectiveness of mindfulness training on quality of perceptual marital relationship and psychological well-being of women with addicted wife. Revista Romaneasca Pentru Educatie Multidimensionala 2018; 10(1):34-46.
  27. Firoozi M. A new model of mindfulness-based couple therapy for improving the sense of coherence and marital satisfaction in caregivers and patients with prostate cancer. JFR 2023; 18(4):641-56. [Persian]
  28. Zaal B, Arab A, Sanagouye Moharer Gr. The effectiveness of forgiveness training on attitudes to infidelity and trust in interpersonal relationships in women affected by marital infidelity. JFR 2020; 16(3):413-28. [Persian]
  29. Spanier GB. Measuring dyadic adjustment: New scales for assessing the quality of marriage and similar dyads. JMF 1976; 38(1):15-28.
  30. Beheshtinezhad Sh, Khayatan F, Manshaee Gh. The study, and comparison of mindfulness and imago therapy training on reducing marital burnout in couples with spouse hyperactivity/ attention deficit disorder. JAC 2019; 9(1):23-44. [Persian]
  31. Maserrat Mashhadi Z, Dolatshai B. Evaluation of the effectiveness couples marital adjustment rates of irrational beliefs. RRJ 2017; 6(1):69-84. [Persian]
  32. Rempel JK, Holmes JG, Zanna MP. Trust in close relationships. JPSP 1986; 49(1):95-112.
  33. Khandandel S, Kavianfar H. Role of trust in interpersonal relationships and family hardiness in marital satisfaction in working couples. FPCEJ 2015; 1(1):14-31. [Persian]
  34. Zhang H, Xu X, Tsang SK. Conceptualizing and validating marital quality in Beijing: A pilot study. Social Indicators Research 2013; 113(1):197-212.
  35. Moazzen Jami A, Mohammadi K, Fallahchai R. Prediction of marital quality based on spiritual orientation. JRH 2018; 5(2):31-40. [Persian]