The effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Couple Therapy on improvement Social Intimacy and Psychological flexibility of maladjusted couples

Subject Areas : social psychology

Seyedeh zahra Alavi ¹ , abbas amanelahi ² , yousefali attari ³ , amin koraei ⁴

1 - PhD student, Department of Counseling, Khuzestan Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Ahvaz, Iran. PhD student, Department of Counseling, Islamic Azad University, Ahvaz, Iran.
2 - Invited teacher, Department of Counseling, Islamic Azad University, Ahvaz, Iran. / Associate professor, Department of Counseling, College of Educational and Psychology, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz. Ahvaz. Iran
3 - Professor, Department of Counseling, College of Educational and Psychology, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz. Ahvaz. Iran.
4 - Member of Scientific Board of Consulting Department, Islamic Azad University of Ahwaz

Received: 2018-10-19 Accepted : 2019-04-08 Published : 2019-05-22

Keywords: Psychological flexibility, Social Intimacy, Maladjusted couples, Acceptance and Commitment Couple Therapy,

Abstract :

The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment couple therapy on social intimacy and psychological flexibility in maladjusted couples. The study population included 100 couples chosen among couples that were referred to Ahvaz counseling centers during the fall 2017. The sample consisted of 3 couples (6 individuals) that were selected according to the results of the outcome Dyadic Adjustment Scale (Spanier, 1976) with cut-off 101 and with purposive sampling. Non-concurrent multiple baseline semi experimental single case study was used as the method of the present study. Social intimacy sub-scale was used as Personal assessing scale of Schaefer & Olson (1981) intimacy, and the acceptance and commitment questionnaire – II (AAQ-II) was used to assessing the psychological flexibility. The acceptance and commitment couple therapy protocol was carried out in three phases of intervention (Baseline, 12 sessions weekly (90 minutes each), and two months follow-up). Data were analyzed using visual analysis, the improvement percentage formula and the reliable change index (RCI) strategies. Results showed 41.93% improvement in social intimacy and 36.96% in psychological flexibility.The findings of this study shows that by increasing mindfulness and commitment actions, the acceptance and commitment couple therapy has required effectiveness in improvement of social intimacy and psychological flexibility in couple relationships. So the couple and family therapists can use this approach in order to improve the couple relationships.