The comparison of the effectiveness of emotionally focused couples therapy and reality therapy for couples on marital communication beliefs and marital expectations of couples

Abstract

Background and Aim: Various factors are undoubtedly effective in the occurrence of marital disputes, among which we can point to having irrational expectations and attitudes in married life. Accordingly, the present study was aimed to compare the effectiveness of emotionally focused couples therapy and reality therapy for couples on marital communication beliefs and marital expectations of couples. Methods: The present study is a type of quasi-experimental project with pre-test, post-test, and three-month follow-up. The statistical population of the present study included all couples who were referred to counseling centers in Tehran in 2018. In this research, 45 couples were selected using the targeted sampling method to form three groups. And 15 couples were randomly selected in the emotionally focused couple's therapy group, 15 couples in the reality therapy group, and 15 couples in the control group. The research tools were the Marital Communication Beliefs Scale of Edelson and Epstein (1982) and the Marital Expectations Questionnaire of Omidvar et al. (2010). Both of the study groups received Johnson's (2012) emotionally focused therapy and Glasser's reality therapy (2016) for eight sessions of 90 minutes. And the data were analyzed using repeated measures mixed analysis of variance. Results: The results of the analysis of the data showed that in comparison with the control group, both couples therapy methods had a significant effect on the destructiveness of opposition, gender differences, and marital expectations in couples (p=0.05). Also, emotionally focused couple therapy had a greater effect on marital communication beliefs and marital expectations in couples than reality therapy for couples (p=0.05). Conclusion: The results of the study suggest that emotionally focused couple therapy and reality therapy approaches are a good way to improve and increase marital communication beliefs and marital expectations.