ARTICLE INFO

Article Type

Original Research

Authors

Khoshakhlagh   H. (1*)
Narimani   A. (2)






(1*) Psychology Department, Psychology Faculty, Naein Branch, Islamic Azad University, Naein, Iran
(2) Psychology Department, Educational Sciences & Psychology Faculty, Isfahan Branch (Khorasgan), Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran

Correspondence

Address: Psychology Faculty, Islamic Azad University, Naein Branch, Moadarres Square, Naein, Iran. Postal Code:8391965931
Phone: +98 (31) 32209080
Fax: +98 (31) 32209080
khoshakhlagh_h@yahoo.com

Article History

Received:  March  19, 2018
Accepted:  September 5, 2018
ePublished:  March 16, 2019

BRIEF TEXT


... [1, 2]. The relationship with the spouse is considered as the main element of the emotional life, so he/she is the first person who is directly affected by secondary trauma and the related psychological consequences. ... [3].

... [4, 5]. Dejkam & Aminoroaya [6] reported that the anxiety in spouses of veterans affected by psychological disorders is more than spouses of non-veterans patients with psychological disorders. In another study, spouses of veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) had low level of quality of life [7]. ... [8, 9]. "Happiness" is one of the most important psychological needs of human beings, which has a major impact on personality formation and mental health. Accordingly, marital happiness is one of the components of the quality of marital relationships with interpersonal nature and is one of the most important predictors of marital adjustment in life events [10]. ... [11-14]. The nature of marital relationships is the major source of dissatisfaction and marital conflicts [15], in which disagreement is unavoidable. According to the studies, the marital conflicts can be harmless and are common in human relationships, when couples are able to manage and resolve them positively [16, 17]. ... [18, 19]. In this regard, several methods have been proposed to improve the happiness among couples, for example, training conflict resolution and relaxation, short-term couple therapy by self-regulatory technique, group training in transactional analysis, and solution-focused couple therapy [7, 20-23]. ... [24-31]. ... [11, 32-39].

The aim of this study was to determine effectiveness of the brief solution-focused couple therapy on happiness and marital conflicts in veterans’ spouses.

This research is semi-experimental study with pre-test post-test and follow-up design using control group

This study was done on veterans’ spouses in Isfahan through 2016-17.

34 veterans’ spouses who were referred to the Shahed counselling center of Isfahan were selected due to the minimum sample size (30 subjects) for experimental and semi experimental studies and also the possible reduction of the samples using convenience sampling method. The subjects randomly divided in experimental and control groups (17 people in each group). The inclusion criteria included the diagnosis of depression, distress and marital conflicts through clinical interviews and recording by family counselors, the consent of the family for participation in the research, at least guidance school education, the age range of 30 to 55 years, attending the whole therapy sessions, and the ability to participate the study. Exclusion criteria also included the absence of more than one session and participation in other treatment programs. All subjects attended the whole therapy sessions and there was no reduction of the samples.

Demographic Information Questionnaire (age, educational level, marital status, etc.), Marital Conflict Questionnaire (MCQ), and Oxford Happiness Questionnaire (OHQ) were used for data collection. Participants were assured that the findings would be published in general without mentioning the name of subjects. The brief solution-focused couple therapy sessions were conducted for the experimental group through six 90-minute sessions based on the protocol by Zimmerman et al. [19] (Table 1). The control group following the pre-test was waiting for the treatment after the end of the intervention and follow-up and did not receive any treatment during this period. The questionnaires were re-answered by the participants of both groups after the end of the sessions, and they were re-answered by both groups for two-month follow-up. Data was analyzed using SPSS 22 software. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was used to determine the normal distribution of data, Levine's test for evaluating assumptions in variance analysis, repeated measures ANOVA to examine the research hypotheses, and Mauchly's test for equality of covariance. The results of the tests indicated that all the presumptions were observed. Moreover, the LSD post-hoc test was used to compare the mean of variables.

The mean age of the experimental group and the control group was 34.53±4.21 and 33.29±4.45 years, respectively. In the experimental group, 13 subjects (76.5%) had diploma, 2 subjects (11.8%) associate degree and 2 subjects (11.8%) had undergraduate education, whereas in the control group, 15 subjects (88.2%) had Diploma and 2 subjects (11.8%) had undergraduate education. Moreover, the average length of marriage in the experimental group and the control group was 13.60±4.3 and 12.50±5.61 years, respectively. There was a significant difference between the mean scores of happiness and marital conflicts in the pre-test, post-test and follow-up stages in the experimental group (p<0.01). There was also a significant difference between the experimental and control groups (p<0.05). In addition, time was not effective the effectiveness of the treatment in the experimental group through the post-test to follow-up, and there was no reduction in the intervention effect in the follow-up phase compared with the post-test (P>0.05, Table 2). The mean scores of variables in the pre-test compared with post-test as well as pre-test with follow-up were significantly different. The post-test scores remained constant in the follow-up and the effect of brief team-based solution-focused couple therapy on happiness and reducing the marital conflicts of veterans' spouses remained still constant (Table 3).

This study was consistent with some studies on the efficacy of brief solution-focused couple therapy on happiness and marital conflicts. According to some studies, this method is effective on marital satisfaction, marital adjustment, improving the quality of women's marital relationships, intimacy, expressing affection, decreasing tendency toward divorce and marital conflicts [11, 32-39]. In addition, the brief solution-focused couple therapy can reduce marital stress and desirable results have obtained in different populations and situations, including couple therapy, family therapy, patients with mental disorders, sexual abuse treatment, and chronic schizophrenia [43-47]. This intervention is effective on a variety of clinical disorders and people with various psychological problems and interpersonal conflicts; since the subjects are considered as qualified experts who are able to solve their problems, the therapy is also regarded as a process, by which the subjects and therapist can reform desirable realities. It is crucial for the therapist during the treatment process to establish collaborative relationships by correcting the language, beliefs, and performances of the subjects and use language and modification-based questions [48].

It is suggested to study the effectiveness of this intervention on other psychological problems to promote the educational and preventive programs among veterans. Using this therapeutic approach, patients can be treated in a shorter time by family and marriage counselors.

This research was conducted on the veterans’ spouses of Isfahan city, therefore, due to cultural differences, the results should be cautiously generalized to other cities.

The brief solution-focused couple therapy increases happiness and decreases marital conflict of veterans’ spouses.

The authors are thankful to all the veterans' families participating in the research, especially their spouses as well as to all officials of the Foundation of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs of Isfahan for their sincerely cooperation.

None declared.

Ethical considerations were observed, including confidentiality of information and the voluntary participation to the study.

None declared.

TABLES and CHARTS

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