اثربخشی درمان هیجان‌مدار بر سرخوردگی زناشویی و قاطعیت جنسی در زنان دارای تعارضات زناشویی

پریسا  حکمت‌شعار; فاطمه بیان‌فر

Authors

Parisa Hekmatshear MA Student, Department of School Counseling, Payame Noor University, Semnan, Iran Author https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1809-2316
Fatemeh Bayanfar Associate Professor, Department of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Payame Noor University, Tehran, Iran Author https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2241-4987

Keywords:

Emotion, Focused Therapy, Marital Frustration, Sexual Assertiveness, Marital Conflicts

Abstract

Objective: The present study aimed to determine the effectiveness of emotion-focused therapy on marital frustration and sexual assertiveness in women with marital conflicts.

Methodology: The study employed a quasi-experimental pretest–posttest design with a control group. The statistical population consisted of women with marital conflicts who referred to the Nahal Psychological Counseling Center in Semnan during the fourth quarter of 2022. Thirty participants were selected through purposive sampling and randomly assigned into experimental and control groups (15 participants in each group). Data collection instruments included the Marital Frustration Questionnaire developed by Niehuis and Bartell and the Sexual Assertiveness Questionnaire developed by Hulbert et al. The experimental group received eight 60-minute sessions of emotion-focused therapy based on the Greenberg and Johnson protocol, while the control group received no intervention. Data were analyzed using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) in SPSS-26 software.

Findings: The results of ANCOVA demonstrated that emotion-focused therapy significantly reduced marital frustration among women with marital conflicts (P<0.001; F=14.342). Furthermore, the intervention significantly increased sexual assertiveness (P<0.001; F=29.555). The effect size was 0.374 for marital frustration and 0.433 for sexual assertiveness, indicating a considerable intervention effect. In addition, the mean score of marital frustration in the experimental group decreased from 71.50 in the pretest to 64.92 in the posttest, whereas the mean score of sexual assertiveness increased from 44.80 to 54.86.

Conclusion: The findings indicated that emotion-focused therapy, through modifying maladaptive interaction patterns, enhancing attachment security, and facilitating emotional expression, can effectively reduce marital frustration and improve sexual assertiveness in women with marital conflicts. Therefore, this therapeutic approach can be recommended for use in family counseling and couple therapy settings.

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