Comparison the effectiveness of cognitive behavioral couple therapy and acceptance and commitment couple therapy on social and mental dimensions of quality of life in distressed couples

Subject Areas : social psychology

nasrin maleki ¹ , Mohammad Ebrahim Madahi ² , Javad Khalatbarii ³ , Shahram Mohammadkhani ⁴

1 - ialamic azad university
2 - shahed university
3 - islamic azad university
4 - kharazmi university

Received: 2017-06-08 Accepted : 2017-12-22 Published : 2017-12-22

Keywords: distressed couples, cognitive behavioral, quality of life, couple therapy, acceptance and commitment,

Abstract :

The aim of this research was comparison the effectiveness of cognitive behavioral couple therapy and acceptance and commitment couple therapy on social and mental dimensions of quality of life in distressed couples. Present study was a quasi-experimental with a pre-test and post-test design and with experimental and control groups. The research population was all distressed couples referring to counseling centers in Tehran city in 2015 year. To select sample 45 couple through available sampling method and randomly assigned to three groups (each group 15 couple). The experimental groups trained 12 sessions of 90 minutes by cognitive behavioral couple therapy and acceptance and commitment couple therapy methods. Groups responded to the questionnaire of quality of life (World Health Organization, 2004) in the pre-test and post-test stages. Data was analyzed with multivariate analysis of covariance method. The results showed the methods of cognitive behavioral couple therapy and acceptance and commitment couple therapy in comparison with the control group significantly led to increase the social and mental dimensions of quality of life in distressed couples. Also, there was a no significant difference between the two groups of couple therapy in improving the social and mental dimensions of quality of life (P<0/05). Therefore, the results indicated the effectiveness of the two methods of cognitive behavioral couple therapy and acceptance and commitment couple therapy on the social and mental dimensions of quality of life distressed couples. As a result, counselors and therapists can use the mentioned methods to improve the quality of life in distressed couples.