The Effectiveness of Personal Construct Therapy on Marital Satisfaction: A Quasi-Experimental Study

Background Marital satisfaction is as an important factor in family function. Considering incompatibility between couples, some approaches such as construct therapy could be effective in marital satisfaction. Objectives This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of personal construct analysis model in marital satisfaction. Methods The present research was a quasi-experimental study with pretest-posttest and fallow up design. The population was consisted of couples referring to counseling centers in Tehran (Iran) due to marital conflict during 2011 - 2013. The participants were randomly assigned to two groups (Treatment (T) and Control (C)) of 15 pairs each. The treatment group received 10 weekly sessions of intervention. The data were collected by enrich marital satisfaction short form 47-item questionnaire and analyzed statistically using analysis of variance. Results The mean differences in variables including personality issues (T = 2.96, C = -0.6, P < 0.001), communication (T = 4.83, C = -0.07, P < 0.001), conflict resolution (G1 = 2.7, C = -1.03, P < 0.001), financial management (T = 1.2, G2 = -0.77, P < 0.001), leisure activities (T = 0.6, G2 = -0.76, P < 0.001), sexual relationship (T = 0.6, C = -0.76, P < 0.001), children and parenting (T = 2.6, C = -0.54, P < 0.001), family and friends (T = 1.9, C = -0.66, P < 0.001), and religious orientation (T = 0.83, C = -0.37, P < 0.001) were positive in the treatment group and negative in the control group. Conclusions The present study demonstrated that personal construct analysis model can be used as an alternative intervention for marital distress.