The Effectiveness of Systemic-Behavioral Couples Therapy (SBCT) in Enhancing Relationship Outcomes Among Spouses of Individuals with Parkinson’s Disease
Keywords:
Systemic-Behavioral Couples Therapy, Marital satisfaction, Sexual intimacy, Family emotional climate, Parkinson’s disease, Clinical significanceAbstract
Objective: This study evaluated the efficacy of Systemic-Behavioral Couples Therapy (SBCT) in improving relational outcomes among spouses of PD patients.
Methods and Materials: Employing a quasi-experimental pretest–posttest–follow-up design with a control group, 40 spouses attending the Neurology Specialty Department of Firouzgar Hospital, Tehran (2024) were recruited via purposive sampling and randomly allocated to experimental and control conditions (final N = 24; 12 per group). The experimental group underwent six weekly 45-minute SBCT sessions targeting communication enhancement, cognitive restructuring, and interaction pattern modification. Outcome measures included marital satisfaction (Hudson, 1982), sexual intimacy (Batalani et al., 2010), and family emotional climate (Hillburn, 1964). Data were analyzed using ANCOVA, paired t-tests, and repeated measures ANOVA in SPSS 24, with α = .05.
Findings: The SBCT group demonstrated significant improvements across all outcomes compared to the control group (p < .001). Effect sizes were large (η² = .68–.70), and Cohen’s d values were very large to extremely large (2.47–4.33). Reliable Change Index (RCI > 1.96) confirmed clinically meaningful change. Follow-up assessment showed slight attenuation, but post-intervention gains remained substantially higher than baseline.
Conclusion: SBCT represents a robust, clinically meaningful intervention to enhance marital satisfaction, sexual intimacy, and family emotional climate in spouses of PD patients. These findings support integrating SBCT into psychosocial support frameworks for families affected by chronic neurodegenerative disorders.
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