The Effectiveness of Group Therapy

Subject Areas : Educational

Saeedeh Sedighi ¹ , Shahrokh Makvand Hosseini ² , Bahram Ali Ghanbari Hashem Abadi ³

1 - کارشناسی ارشد روان‌شناسی بالینی، دانشگاه سمنان، سمنان، ایران
2 - عضو هیأت علمی دانشگاه سمنان، سمنان، ایران
3 - عضو هیأت علمی دانشگاه فردوسی مشهد، مشهد، ایران

Received: 2017-10-17 Accepted : 2017-10-17 Published : 2017-10-17

Keywords: couples communication patterns, transactional analysis, Group therapy,

Abstract :

This study was aimed at investigating the effectiveness of the group therapy using transactional analysis in couples’ communication patterns. The target population consisted of all couples referring to one of the psychological clinics in Mashhad to receive expert help on marital issues. Then, 16 couples were selected by convenience sampling method and randomly assigned into control and experimental groups. The experimental group underwent 8 two-hour sessions of transactional analysis therapy. Measurement instrument in the study was Communication Patten Questionnaire (Christensen & Sullaway, 1984). All couples completed it at pre, post, and three-month follow-up treatment stages. The data has been analyzed by multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA).according to the findings, the males’  constructive mutual communication pattern of experimental group increased significantly in post-test and follow-up stage compared to the control group (P<0.05). The results revealed that TA group therapy has a significant impact on increasing mutual constructive communication pattern and such an approach can be applied to family intervention.

References:

Blanchard, V.L. (2008).. Does marriage and relationship education improve couples’ communication? Ameta-analytic study . Unpublished MA Thesis .
Burpee, L. & Langer, E. (2005). Mindfullness and Marital Satisfaction Journal of Adult Development, 12(1); 43-51.
Caughlin, J.P. & Vangelisti. A.L. (2000). An Individual Difference Explanation of Why Married Couples Engage in the Demand/Withdraw Pattern of Conflict, Journal of Social and Personal Relationship, 17(4–5), 523–551.
Christensen, A and Shenk, J.L. (1991). Communication, conflict, and psychological distance in nondistressed, clinic, and divorcing couples, Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 59, 458-463.
Christensen, A. and Sullaway, M. (1984). Communication Patterns Questionnaire. Unpublished questionnaire, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Heavey, Christopher, L., Brandon, M., Larson, Daniel, C., Zumtobel. and Andrew Christensen. (1996) The Communication Patterns Questionnaire: The Reliability and Validity of a Constructive Communication Subscale, Journal of Marriage and the Family, 58(3), 796–800.
Karahan, T.F. (2007). The effective of couple communication program on conflict tendency among married passive couples educational science: theory and practice , Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 2, 239-245.
Massey, R.F. (2005). TA as a family system therapy, Transactional Analysis Journal, 152; 120- 141.
Milbury, K. and Badr, H. (2013). Sexual problems, communication patterns, and depressive symptoms in couples coping with metastatic breast cancer. Journal of Psycho-Oncology, 22(4), 814–822.
Mills, L.G. (2008). Shame and Intimate Abuse: The Critical Missing Link between Cause and Cure, Children and Youth Services Review, 30(6), 631–638.
Nayery, A., Lotfi, M., Noorani, M. (2014). The Effectiveness of Group Training of Transactional Analysis on Intimacy in Couples. Procedia- Social and Behavioral Sciences. 152, 1167-1170.
Roberts, L.J. (2000). Fire and Ice in Marital Communication: Hostile and Distancing Behaviors as Predictors of Marital Distress, Journal of Marriage and Family, 62(3):693–707.
Sadeghi, M., Hezardastan, F., Ahmadi, A., Bahrami, F., Etemadi, O., Fatehizadeh. M. (2011). The effect of training through transactional analysis approach on couples communication patterns, World Applied Sciences Journal, 12(8), 1337-1341.
Sanford, K. (2010). Assessing conflict communication in couples comparing the validity of self-report, partner-report, and observer ratings. Journal of family psychology, 24(2);165-174.

Schilling, E.A., Donald, H.B., Charles, K.B., Sandin, A. and Lynelle, R. (2003). Altering the Course of Marriage: The Effect of PREP Communication Skills Acquisition on Couples’ Risk of Becoming Maritally Distressed, Journal of Family Psychology, 17(1),41–53.
Sillars, A., Koerner, A., Fitzpatrick, M.A., et al Accessed May24. (2010), Multi- method assessment of parent- adolescentunderstanding .Available at: http://www.comm.umn.edu/~akoerner/pubs/adolescent.art2.pdf
Slavik, S., Carlson, H., Sperry, L., )2007(, Adlerian marital therapy with the passive aggressive partner, American Journal of Family Therapy, 20(1);25-35.
Vinella, P. (2013). Transactional Analysis Counseling Groups: Theory,Practice, and How They Differfrom Other TA Group. Transactional Analysis JournaL, 43(1), 68-79.
Wille, S.T.(2000). Marital intraction and satissfation:A longitudinal view.. Journal of consulting and clinical Psychology, 57(1), 47-55.
Wilson, Ch.M., & Oswald., A.J. (2005). How does marriage affect physical and psychological health? A survey of the longitudinal evidence [On-line]. Available: www.findarticle.com.
Zhang, Q. (2007). Family communication patterns and conflict styles in Chinese parent – child relationships. Communication Quarterly . 55, 113-128