Mina Mohammadi - MSc in Counseling, Department of Counseling, Faculty of Educational Sciences and Psychology, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran
Zahra Alibakhshi - Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Payame Noor University, Tehran, Iran
Maryami Sedighi - MSc in General Psychology, Islamic Azad University, Shiraz Branch, Shiraz, Iran

Background & aim: Individuals with differentiation of self will have healthy relationships with others, manage their emotions, take care of their own identity, and they suppose, feel, and act for themselves. Therefore, the present study aimed to examine the efficacy of self-differentiation training based on the Bowen’s theory on women’s self-differentiation and marital satisfaction. Methods: This quasi-experimental study was carried out using a pretest-posttest design. The participants were randomly allocated into two intervention (n=12) and control (n=12) groups in Tehan from 15 September to 15 November 2018. Two questionnaires were used in this study, namely the Differentiation of Self Inventory and Marital Satisfaction Inventory, which were completed pre and post intervention. The intervention included ten sessions of self-differentiation training based on the Bowen’s theory. The control group received no training. The collected data were analyzed using multivariate analysis of covariance by SPSS software (version 23). Results: Mean scores of age were reported as 30.58±3.61 and 29.92±3.18 years in the intervention and control groups, respectively. Furthermore, both groups were homogeneous regarding the educational level. The obtained results showed that self-differentiation approach training could significantly increase self-differentiation (P<0.05) and marital satisfaction (P<0.05). Conclusion: Based on the obtained results, the participants who apply appropriate self-differentiation in their lives would have enhanced ability to manage their emotions, to solve their social problems and to have higher levels of marital satisfaction.

Bowen Theory, Training, Self-differentiation, Marital satisfaction