Effectiveness of group counseling based on choice theory on increasing intimacy and marital satisfaction and reducing marital conflicts in married women

Introduction: Marriage is described as the most important and the most basic humanrelationship. Increasing intimacy and marital satisfaction and reducing marital conflicts areamong the most important components of a stable marriage. Counselling and therapiesbased on choice theory have been used as one of the effective methods on improvingstable marriage components. This study was performed to determine the effect of groupcounselling based on choice theory on increasing intimacy and marital satisfaction andreducing marital conflicts in married women in the city of Bandar Abbas.Methods: This research was semi-experimental, with pre-test and post-test design withcontrol group. The statistical population included married women referred to consultingcenters in Bandar Abbas and volunteered to participate in group counselling. So, 45 ofthese individuals, after personal interviews, were selected, and randomly placed in theexperimental and the control groups. The two groups were subjected to researchquestionnaires (including marital intimacy, marital satisfaction, and marital conflictsquestionnaires), before the experiment. Group counselling based on choice theory sessionswere held, and after eight weeks, the questionnaires were filled by both groups again.Data was analyzed using single - and multi-variable covariance analysis test and the Tukeypost hoc test.Results: Findings showed that group counselling based on Choice Theory caused anincrease in intimacy and marital satisfaction, and a decrease in marital conflicts in marriedwomen in the experimental group compared to the control group (P<0.01 and P<0.05).Conclusion: According to the results, it can be said that group counselling based onChoice Theory has a considerable effect on the improvement of marital relations betweencouples.

Keywords:

Choice Theory , Marital , Intimacy , Conflict