Solution-Focused Couples Group

Abstract

Solution-focused therapy has been used with individuals, couples, and groups of individuals, but a search of the relevant literature revealed no information on its use with couples' groups—clinical or nonclinical. The purpose of this study was to develop a solution-focused program for a couples' group and to test its effectiveness. A single-case research design was used with a multiple baseline assessment strategy across subjects. Participants' improvement on measures of marital satisfaction and specific goal achievement was considered in evaluating effectiveness. Investigators inspected the data visually in order to detect individual differences and variation as well as trends and overall patterns of scores over time. Five couples completed the program. Marital satisfaction was measured using the Revised Dyadic Adjustment Scale (RDAS; Busby, Christensen, Crane, & Larson, 1995) and the Kansas Marital Satisfaction Scale (KMS; Schumm, Jurich, & Bollman, 1990). On both measures, seven of the ten participants showed improvement between baseline and intervention scores. Two participants showed little change in scores and one participant recorded a decline in score. A Self-Report Goal Sheet utilizing a 0 to 10 scale was used to record progress toward individual and couple goals. Eight participants reported progress, one reported no change, and one reported a decline on both types of goals. The results of this study lend support to the supposition of positive outcomes from solution-focused couples' group work as well as the value of visual inspection of data from small sample research.