Effectiveness of Reality Therapy on Attachment, Intimacy and Marital Satisfaction of Couples

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 PhD student in Counseling, Islamic Azad University, North Tehran Branch, Tehran, Iran.

2 Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Payam Noor University, Semnan Center, Semnan, Iran. Invited Islamic Azad University, North Tehran Branch, Tehran, Iran.

3 Professor of Counseling Department, Allameh Tabatabai University, Visiting Islamic Azad University, North Tehran Branch, Tehran, Iran.

4 Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Islamic Azad University, North Tehran Branch, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

The present study was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of reality therapy on attachment, intimacy and marital satisfaction of couples with marital conflicts. The research method of the present study was quasi-experimental with pretest, posttest and control group design and a two-month follow-up phase and follow-up period in two months. The statistical population of the present study included couples with marital conflicts who referred to the Zharfa and Ravan Parvaz counseling center in the 3rd district of Tehran in the first six months of 2020. 30 couples (60 people) were selected through purposive sampling method and randomly accommodated into experimental and control groups (15 couples in the experimental group and 15 in the control group). After dropping, the final sample number was 25 couples (13 couples in the experimental group and 12 couples in the control group). The experimental group received reality therapy (14 sessions) during 14 weeks (90 minutes). The applied questionnaires in this study included marital conflict questionnaire (Barati, 1996), marital intimacy questionnaire (Bagarouzi, 2001), Adult attachment scale (Collins, Read, 1990) and marital satisfaction (Olson, 1996). The results showed that reality therapy is effective on the avoidant attachment style, anxious and secure, marital intimacy and marital satisfaction of the couples with marital conflicts. According to the findings of the present study, schema the reality therapy rapy can be used as an efficient approach to improve attachment, intimacy and marital satisfaction of couples with marital conflicts through focusing on the present time, avoid inconsistent criticism and training accountability.

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