The Effectiveness of Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy on Marital Self-regulation, Marital Burnout and Self-criticism of Infertile Women

Abstract

Background and Aim: The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy on marital self-regulation, marital burnout, and self-criticism of infertile women. Methods & Materials: This experimental study was conducted with a pretest-posttest design with the control group. The statistical population of this study included all the infertile women of Mazandaran Province, Iran, in 2018-2019. In this study, 30 infertile women were considered the sample size in the experimental group mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (of 15 infertile women) and control (15 infertile women). The experimental group underwent mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (10 sessions 60 minutes), but the control group received no training. To collect data, we used the marital self-regulation scale of Wilson and et al., the marital burnout scale of Pines, and the self-criticism scale of Thompson and Zuroff. Data analysis was performed in SPSS V. 24 with descriptive and inferential statistics (multivariable analysis of covariance). Ethical Considerations: This study with research ethical code IR.IAU.TON.REC.1397.030 was approved by the Research Ethics Committee at Islamic Azad University Tonekabon Branch. Results: The results showed that the scores of marital self-regulation of infertile women after mindfulness-based cognitive therapy in the experimental group significantly increased in comparison with the control group, and also marital burnout, and self-criticism scores were decreased (P<0.01). Conclusion: Therefore, it is suggested that counselors and therapists use mindfulness-based cognitive therapy to improve marital self-regulation, marital burnout, and self-criticism of infertile women.