Comparison the Effectiveness of Mindfulness-Based Relationship Enhancement and Emotion-Focused Therapies on Marital Satisfaction and Intimacy in Couples with Low Self-Disclosure

Aim: The present study aimed to compare the effectiveness of Mindfulness-Based Relationship Enhancement (MBRE) and Emotion Focused (EFT) therapies on marital satisfaction and intimacy in couples with low self-disclosure. Method: This research was a semi-experimental study with a pre-test, post-test, and follow-up design with experimental and control groups. The statistical population of the research included all the couples who referred to the counseling centers of Kermanshah, Iran, in ۲۰۲۲-۲۰۲۳ who had a low level of self-disclosure. ۳۰ couples were selected by convenience sampling method and randomly replaced in two experimental and control groups. The first experimental group underwent MBRE (eight ۹۰-minute couple sessions) and the second experimental group EFT intervention (nine ۹۰-minute couple sessions). The control group did not receive any intervention. The Marital Self-Disclosure (Waring et al. ۱۹۹۸), the short form of the Marital Satisfaction (Favers and Olson, ۱۹۹۳) and the Intimacy (Walker and Thompson, ۱۹۸۳) scales were used for collecting the data. Results: The results of Analysis of Variance with repeated measures (Mixed Model) showed that both interventions increased marital satisfaction and intimacy (p<۰.۰۱) and this effect was maintained during the follow-up period. Also, findings indicated that there is a significant difference between MBRE and EFT therapies; MBRE has been more effective in increasing marital satisfaction and intimacy than EFT (p<۰.۰۵). Conclusion: MBRE has been more effective than the EFT on solving the marital satisfaction and intimacy due to the involvement of couples in mind-body relationship and mental self-awareness. Therefore, this treatment is suggested to marital counselors.

Keywords:

EFT , MBRE , marital intimacy , marital satisfaction , low self-disclosure