JOURNAL OF FAMILY COUNSELING & PSYCHOTHERAPY
Year:2018 | Volume:7 | Issue:2 (24) |Papers Count:8

By passing from adolescence into middle age, children’s training and planning a better life for them in the future become quite conspicuous. Parents have the opportunity to play their significant role, before the end of children’s adolescence, in equipping the next generation with physical-mental-social and spiritual health. Certain numbers of predicted and unpredicted elements may obstruct parents’ success for an efficient breeding of their children. Lack of knowledge on how to prepare children to cope with tensions in life and how to adapt oneself with daily challenges and problems are among these issues. To establish a balance between the dependence of parents and children on one hand, and providing children with independence, on the other hand, is difficult. Establishing such a balance requires a wide psychological knowledge and mastery over breeding techniques. So it should be reminded that equipping parents with knowledge coming from specialists in the fields of psychology and counseling is a key point and the efforts of researchers can facilitate such a process.

Emotionally focused couple therapy and the enrichment program are interventions that consultants and family and couple therapists have considered in recent decades, because of their focus on improving couples’ relationships. The purpose of current research was to examine the effect of the emotional focused couple therapy and marital enrichment program on marital satisfaction. The research method was quasi-experimental with Pretest, Posttest and group control. The statistical population consisted of the clients of the centers: Kimia, Besharat, Tamasha and Tohid in 1395-1396 who visited these centers due to communication and marital problems. Among them, 45 couples (90 persons) were selected through available sampling from among couples. Then, 15 couples (15 persons) were randomly assigned to three groups and the couples of the experimental groups were paired separately every week with emotional-focused couple therapy (9 weeks) and enrichment program (6 weeks).The subjects' data were collected by the marital satisfaction questionnaire of Enrique1989. Results of Multivariate Covariance Analysis indicated that there is a significant difference between the three groups studied, in all dimensions (P<0.01) except for Egalitarian roles (F=0.92, P<0.41). Results of the follow up test, BENFERONY, indicated that there was also significant differences between the emotional focused couple therapy and control groups (F=20.05, P<0/01), as well as between the marital enrichment program and control groups (F=17.18, P<0.01), in the variable of the general marital satisfaction. In other words, emotional-focused couple therapy and marital enrichment programs led to an increase in the marital satisfaction. Meanwhile, the marital enrichment program was more effective in matching the emotional focused couple therapy in increasing the majority of marital satisfaction dimensions. The results indicated that emotionally focused couple therapy can increase the marital satisfaction of couples by replacing positive cycles instead of negative cycles of conflict and the marital enrichment program can increase the marital satisfaction of couples by helping couples to improve effective communication.

Marital infidelity is a source of intense distress for personal and interpersonal couples life and destroyer their relationships. Aim of this research was the comparison of efficacy of schema therapy and narrative therapy combined with marital enrichment program on infidelity tendency and marital satisfaction. This research is quasi-experimental field research with pre-posttest and control group with one-month followup. Statistical universe included 34 women referring to Farhang Clinic of Shahryar in the 2016 with extramarital affairs, and statistical sample conveniently selected of 18 volunteer women which randomly assigned to six-member groups of schema therapy combined with marital enrichment, narrative therapy combined with marital enrichment and a control group. Polat infidelity tendency questionnaire 2006, ENRICH marital satisfaction scale 1989, and Young schemas questionnaire 1990 were used to collect data. Results of Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney showed that schema therapy combined with marital enrichment reduced marital infidelity (Mann-Whitnney=0.00, Z=-2.882, P<0.05)and enhanced marital satisfaction(Mann-Whitnney=0.00, Z=-2.892, P<0.05). Narrative therapy combined with marital enrichment reduced marital infidelity (Mann-Whitnney=0.00, Z=-2.882, P<0.05) and enhanced marital satisfaction(Mann-Whitnney=0.00, Z=-2.887, p<0.05). There was no significant difference between efficacy of schema therapy and narrative therapy combined with marital enrichment on infidelity tendency(Mann-Whitney U=9.5, Z=-1.368, P=0.171) and marital satisfaction(Mann-Whitney U=16.5, Z=0.241, P= 0.81). Follow up after 1 month implies that results are stable. As the modification of cognitions, emotions and behaviors by schema therapy, modification of narratives contributing to infidelity by narrative therapy and making intimacy by marital enrichment, they could be used to treat infidelity and enhance marital satisfaction.

The birth of the first child as a stressful event can cause fear, anger, and distress in parents' relationship. The purpose of this study was to compile an educational package for the enrichment of marital life with Emotion-Focused Approach and investigate its efficacy on couples’ marital satisfaction after the birth of the first child. The research method is quasi-experimental and was carried out with the design of pre-test, post-test with control group and two months follow up. The statistical population included couples referring to hospitals and gynecologists' private offices in regions 3 and 10 in Tehran in 2016. The research sample consisted of 28 couples (56 people) who were selected through convenient sampling and were randomly divided into two groups of 28 persons of experimental (14 couples) and control (14 couples). The experimental group participated in 9 weekly 3-hour sessions with the educational intervention of marital life enrichment with emotional focused approach for each couple, and no intervention was carried out for the control group during the same time. To collect the data, the Marital satisfaction questionnaire (Enrich, 1989), and personal Information questionnaire and adult attachment styles inventory (Hazan & Shaver, 1987) were used. The result of multivariate variance analysis of disparity scores (Pre-test –post-test) showed that educational intervention of marital life enrichment with Emotional Focused approach was effective on couples’ marital satisfaction (F=129.83, P<0.001 and) and its components, conflict resolution (F=95.18, P<0.001), satisfaction from communication with friends (F=99.38, P<0.001), couples communication (F=41.03, P<0.001), personality issues (F=15.66, P<0.001), leisure activities (F=41.03, P<0.001) and parenting (F=14.26, P<0.001) during mothers’ pregnancy. Furthermore, the results of follow-up analysis indicated that there was a significant difference between follow-up and pre-test phases and it showed the permanency of the treatment effect. Therefore, the educational package for the enrichment of marital life with Emotional Focused approach is suggested to be used during the 3-6 months of mothers' pregnancy, in hospitals, well-fare centers, and counseling clinics in order to increase the marital satisfaction of new parents during pregnancy and after childbirth.

Domestic violence is one of the factors affecting the family distress and the separation of couples that its spread rate is significant in Ardebil city.  This study conducted in order to determine the effectiveness of self-defense training on improving marital adjustment and family cohesion in women involved in domestic violence. The research method was semi-experimental with pre-posttest design with the control group. The statistical population of this current study comprised of all married women, referring to Ardabil justice in 1394 due to domestic violence. Among them using the available sampling, 30 individuals were selected and assigned randomly to the experimental group (n=15) and control group (n=15). The experimental group received 6 sessions of 75 minutes of defense training (based training package, Jackie et al. 2013). The revised Dyadic adjustment scale (Busby, Crane, Larson, & Christensen, 1995) and family cohesion questionnaire (Samani, 2002) were used to collect data. The gathered data were analyzed by multivariate covariance analysis test. The results showed that self-defense training result in increasing of marital adjustment (F=12.05; P<0.02) and family cohesion (F=40.92; P<0.01) in women involved in domestic violence. This result appears that self-defense training can be resulted in marital adjustment and cohesion via mental Empowerment and decreasing the frequency of domestic violence.

Preschool children have variable levels of behavior problems. Because of continuous parent-child relationship in preschool years, training of appropriate parenting skills to parents have considerable effects on children behavior problems. This study aimed to compare the effects of parent management training and parenting acceptance and commitment therapy on mother-child relationship regarding children´ externalizing behaviors. The research method was semi-experimental with pretest- posttest design and a control group. The population was all the mothers of preschool children with externalizing behavior problems who referred to Rooyesh pendar counseling center in Najafabad city in Isfahan. The sample included 45 mothers who were voluntarily selected and randomly assigned into experimental and control groups. Independent variables were PMT & ACT programs that were held during 10 sessions, as well as the waiting list control group. The instrument was child-parent relationship scale Pianta 1994. Results of the repeated measures variance analysis showed that ACT and PMT respectively have led to reduced scores of dependency (F= 179.2, P=0.000), (F=73.28, P= 0.000) & conflict (F= 347.14, P= 0.000), (F= 94.23, P=0.000) and increased scores of closeness (F=110.36, P= 0.000), (F=63.38, P= 0.000) & positive relation (F=552.96, P=0.000), (F=219.19, P=0.000). There were significant differences between the effects of ACT & PMT on mother-child relationship (P<0.001). The effect sizes of ACT and PMT respectively were: closeness (0.88 & 0.81), dependency (0.92 & 0.84), conflict (0.96 & 0.87) and positive relation (0.97 & 0.94). It could be concluded that ACT & PMT can help mothers to manage their child misbehaviors by improving parenting skills, more positive interactions and less negative parenting behaviors. They also can improve positive mother-child relationship by increasing affiliation and reducing conflict and dependency.

Relationship enrichment is an educational approach developed to improve couples 'relationships and aims at helping couples develop sympathy and honesty, and improving effective communication and problem-solving skills. The purpose of this study was to investigate the efficacy of training program of relationship enrichment on the couples’ perception of self- sacrificing behaviors and ambiguity tolerance in married students. This study had a semi-experimental method including pre-test - post-test and follow-up with the control group and one month follow-up. The statistical population included all female students of Lurestan University in the academic year of 2017-18. Using simple random sampling, 30 subjects (15 as experimental group and 15 as control group) were selected. The experimental group received eight sessions of training program of relationship enrichment during two months, but the control group was in normal condition and did not receive any training. After training both groups, post-test and again one month later follow-up were carried out. The data collection tools included Harper and Fergus sacrificing behaviors perception measures (2008) and McLane ambiguity tolerance questionnaire (1993). Our findings based on covariance analysis showed that in the post-test stage, training program of relationship enrichment has had a meaningful effect on improving perception of Self- sacrificing behaviors (F= 42.49 and P<0.001) and ambiguity tolerance (F=22.11 and P<0.001) and this improvement has also been stable for perception of Self- sacrificing behaviors (F=19.87 and P<0.001) and ambiguity tolerance (F=21.25 and P<0.001) in the follow-up stage. The findings of this study can provide researchers, counselors and psychotherapists with useful information about the effectiveness of relationship enrichment program on improving sacrificing behaviors and ambiguity tolerance. relationship enrichment skills are intended to help meet the strongest family inclinations, including the perception of Self- sacrificing behaviors and tolerance of ambiguity.

Spouses who use relational self-regulation have happier and more stable relationships than the others and the role of this component is much more important than other relational skills. The purpose of this paper is to study the validity, reliability and factor structure of Persian version of Behavioral Self-Regulation for Effective Relationships Scale (BSRERS) in Iranian couples, by descriptive and correlational method and its relationship with  marital quality’. The participants were all couples living in Sanandaj, whose children were enrolled in elementary schools in the academic year of 2016. Using randomized cluster sampling, 832 people (416 couples) were selected among the parents who were willing to cooperate.  First, the questionnaire was returned in Persian language. To obtain a detailed picture of a guideline study on 40 couples from the research community. In this study, the Cronbach's alpha coefficient was 0.77 and 0.71, respectively for two factors of the questionnaire (relational self-regulation and relational activity). Participants completed BSRERS, Locke-Wallace Short Marital-Adjustment Test (LWSMAT), Revised Dyadic Adjustment Scale (RDAS), and Affective Style Questionnaire (ASQ). Using confirmatory factor analysis of a two-factor model (relationship self-regulation and relational activity), questionnaire was fitted with the two factor structure suggested by scale constructors. The reliability of relational self-regulation factor and relational activities was estimated by Cronbach’s Alpha, Guttmann method and Split-half Spearman-Brown's Split-. In order to study of gender and the relationship of relational self-regulation aspects among couples, a structural model was used. The results showed that there’s a significant relationship between relational activities with the aspects of marital quality (p<0.01). The results show the fitness of factor structure, validity and reliability of BSRERS to assess marital self-regulation among Iranian couples. This questionnaire could be used as an influential tool in self-regulation assessing in marital relations in clinical and consultative or research conditions.