The Effect of the Family Training Program on Married Women’s Couple-Burnout Levels

Abstract

The most basic subsystem of a family maybe accepted the spouses, which consist of a woman and a man. The health of this system affects all members of the family. It is not likely that couples who cannot succeed in being spouses can healthily perform other functions related to the family.These days, choosing a spouse is left up to the individual. Also, the ideas that the most essential factors in spouse selection are romantic love and that life will gain meaning when an individual finds his or her soulmate as a pursuit of one's most humane right are imposed on individuals through various channels. Although not for every marriage, a high number of women and men who are fascinated by romantic love still get married with the irresistible happiness and high expectation of finding their soulmate, and this cannot be ignored. When the magic of romantic love is lost over time, their life loses the meaning they assumed their soulmates had given them. They are left alone with serious disappointment and feelings of burnout (Pines, 1996, 2010).Burnout in couples is a sorrowful state that devastates individuals who had expected that romantic love would give meaning to their lives. It manifests itself physically, emotionally, and mentally, such as not being able to enjoy the relationship, continuously feeling physically tired, and believing that problems will remain forever unresolved. Moreover, those affected by burnout are not only the individuals themselves, but also their families and social relationships. Burnout is a highly destructive state that affects all areas of an individual's life with feelings of continuous stress, hopelessness, despair, and entrapment that burnout causes (Babaoglan, 2006; Pines, 1996; Pines & Aronson, 1988).On the other hand, couple burnout may provide positive contributions to couples in two respects. First, it indicates an aspect of the relationship that needs to end in order to prepare for a new beginning; second, it is a turning point for couples who want to save their marriage (Pines, 1996). Coping with burnout is possible by turning the problems that occur within the marriage relationship into an opportunity. According to Pines (2010), it is necessary to enable couples to develop awareness regarding the aspects they had found attractive in each other before marriage and the aspects that currently cause problems, empathetic attitudes, communication skills, healthy dialogue between couples, and certain behavioral changes that would appeal to one another. Obviously, relationship dynamics are of utmost importance in order to be able to cope with couple burnout. The common point shared by couples who can lead long-term, loving relationships is that they hold on and make effort in their marriages. While this awareness occurs at the beginning of the relationship in some couples, it is gained at later stages in others (Pines, 1996). In this regard, gaining new skills to strengthen the relationship is the best weapon for couples to be able to cope with couple burnout. These skills can be increased through training programs about couple relationships. Several marriage-relationship training programs of a preventive nature have been developed that aim to strengthen the relationship between couples and to teach skills for preventing problems. These programs enrich the marriage relationship and increase the quality of marriage (Kalkan, 2002). The content of these programs consists of topics such as communication skills, conflict resolution, changing dysfunctional behaviors, and role sharing (Busby, Larson, Holman, & Halford, 2015; Cavedo & Guerney, 1999; Gottman & Gottman, 1999; Kalkan & Ersanli, 2009; L'Abate & Sloan, 1984; L'Abate & Weinstein, 1987; Landhausser, Faas, & Treptow, 2014; Wampler & Sprenkle, 1980; Wilde & Doherty, 2012). This content, which aims to provide couples with new skills, may contribute to married individuals' ability to cope with couple burnout. …