Improvements In Marital Satisfaction Research Articles

The Effect of a Family-centered Program to Manage Domestic Roles on Marital Satisfaction in Female Nurses

Background: Marital satisfaction is vital for the continuation of married life, and one of the factors negatively affecting this satisfaction is women’s employment in stressful positions, especially in families where the division of domestic tasks is traditionally based on gender. This study was conducted to determine the effect of a family-centered program to manage domestic roles on marital satisfaction in female nurses. Methods: This quasi-experimental study was conducted with a pre-test-post-test design with a control group and a two-month follow-up. The study population consisted of married female nurses working in two hospitals in Zabol City, Iran. Based on the determined sample size, this study was conducted on 50 female nurses and their husbands, who were randomly divided into the trial (25 couples) and control (25 couples) groups. Data were collected using Carlson’s work-family conflict scale (WFCS) and the enrich marital satisfaction questionnaire (1998). The trial group received a family-centered educational-supportive program to empower them in performing domestic roles and was compared to the control group after a two-month follow-up. Data were analyzed in SPSS software version 20 using the chi-square and independent tests for parametric data and Mann-Whitney’s U test for nonparametric data, at the significance level of P<0.05. Results: The mean score of marital satisfaction was significantly higher in the trial group compared to the control group after the intervention (P<0.05). Conclusion: The educational-supportive program for family management based on family-centered care decreased work-family conflict (WFC) in female nurses and led to improvements in marital satisfaction.

In 50s and Married for the First Time: Examining the Effectiveness of Spirituality App and Relationship Counseling App in Improving Marital Satisfaction and Dyadic Adjustment of Very Late First-Marriage Couples

Marriage timing has an important association with marital satisfaction and dyadic adjustment and very delayed first marriages are a small but significant subset. This article reports a study on the impact of a mobile phone-based spirituality app as compared to a relationship counseling app on couples who have entered marriages for the first time in their 50 s. Spirituality app users reported improvements in marital satisfaction and dyadic adjustment (Hedges’s g = 0.99–1.98, p < .01). Post-test gains were higher for dyads who had postgraduate/doctoral degrees or professional qualifications, who had entered the marriage out of choice, Hindus and Christians, and whose intervention compliance was higher (>60%). Multivariate analysis further suggested that Christian wives reported significant gains, however, this was not so for Christian husbands. Actor-partner interdependence models indicated a significant interdependence and association between outcome scores of husbands and wives. With an adequate emphasis on intervention compliance, the spirituality app would be effective with some modifications for those who enter the alliance enforced by circumstances, Muslim and Sikh participants, and the less formally qualified.

The longitudinal association between marital and psychological functioning in socioeconomically disadvantaged relationships

Marital functioning is associated with individuals’ psychological functioning. However, it is unclear if the association between marital and individual functioning extends to socioeconomically disadvantaged newlyweds (those with low educational attainment/income), and if changes in psychological distress differ between husbands and wives. Using three waves of data from 530 couples in the Supporting Healthy Marriage study, we investigated if improvements and deterioration in marital satisfaction were differentially associated with patterns of individuals’ psychological distress. We also examined if spouses’ divergent marital change patterns were associated with distress trajectories. For wives, improvements in marital satisfaction were more strongly associated with decreases in psychological distress compared to declines in satisfaction. Additionally, wives’ psychological distress was more adversely impacted than was husbands’ when they reported worse marital functioning. We provide empirical and practical implications for helping reduce disparities in psychological functioning observed in low-income populations.

Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy: A Systematic Review of Its Effectiveness over the past 19 Years

ABSTRACTPurpose: A meta-analysis is the review of several qualifying studies where the findings of each study is analyzed and is then pooled as to determine if an intervention is effective or not. The aim of this meta-analysis was to evaluate if the intervention of Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFCT), also referred to as Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), continues to be an effective intervention, since its last meta-analysis in 1999, and to determine whether the improvements noted in EFCT continue to be effective, over a period of time, following the initial intervention.Method: For the meta-analysis, nine studies which identify as randomized control trials (RCTs), were extracted and utilized from the original systematic search. These nine studies were used to evaluate EFCT’s initial pre to post-treatment effectiveness. The portion of the meta-analysis, which evaluates whether EFCT sustained improvement at follow-up, consisted of four studies that identify as RCTs.Results: The results strongly suggest that the intervention of EFCT not only improved marital satisfaction (Hedge’s g coefficient = 2.09) but also, the improvement in marital satisfaction was sustained at follow up. This sustained improvement was evident through the results of both the Friedman’s repeated-measures and the post hoc Wilcox (χ2 = 6.500, p = 0.039).Conclusion: The findings provide preliminary support that, as it relates to marital satisfaction, EFCT is an effective treatment, both in facilitating change during treatment, and in maintaining those improvements following treatment.

Adjunctive cognitive behavioural treatment for chronic pain couples improves marital satisfaction but not pain management outcomes.

Data have consistently shown that patient coping with chronic pain can be affected by various factors associated with the primary relationship, and hence efforts to include the patient's partner in the treatment process have merit. This study evaluated the benefit of adding an adjunctive, couples-based, cognitive behavioural treatment (CBT) for chronic pain to a standard cognitive behavioural pain management programme. Forty-five couples were randomly assigned to either an adjunctive couples intervention (n=19) or the pain programme only (n=26). All patient participants completed a 3-week multi-disciplinary pain management programme, to which their partners were invited to attend one full day. In addition, partners in the adjunctive condition received four, one hour treatment sessions focusing on pain education, patient-partner communication, operant behavioural principles and relapse prevention strategies. Partner sessions for the adjunctive intervention were provided over the telephone. By the completion of the pain programme the adjunctive couples intervention demonstrated significant improvements in maritalsatisfaction for the spouses over and above attendance at the pain management programme alone (p=0.003). However, spouse involvement did not facilitate any additional response to treatment for pain patients on marital satisfaction, pain, disability or any indices of distress. All treatment gains were maintained at 1month follow-up. These data demonstrate that a brief CBT intervention can significantly improve marital satisfaction for spouses of chronic pain patients, but the treatment does not translate to improvements in function on any outcomes, including marital satisfaction, for patients of chronic pain. WHAT DOES THIS STUDY ADD?: A brief, telephone-based intervention for couples living with chronic pain is an acceptable format for intervention. This intervention can significantly improve marital satisfaction for partners of chronic pain patients. Patients who are already participating in a multidisciplinary pain programme will not obtain further benefit.

Does Improving Marital Quality Improve Sleep? Results From a Marital Therapy Trial

For most adults, sleep is a dyadic behavior. Only recently have studies explored the dynamic association between sleep and relationship functioning among bed partners. The current study is the first to examine bidirectional associations between changes in insomnia and changes in marital quality over time, in the context of a marital therapy trial. Among husbands, improvements in marital satisfaction were associated with a 36% decreased risk of insomnia at follow-up. Regarding the reverse direction, counter-intuitively, wife baseline insomnia was associated with improvements in husbands’ marital satisfaction, but only among the non-treatment-seeking comparison group. Results are discussed in terms of implications for sleep and marital therapy, and suggest that improving sleep may be an added benefit of improving the marital relationship.

The efficacy of training of stress-coping strategies on marital satisfaction of spouses of veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder

IntroductionMarital satisfaction is an important factor in people’s quality of life. It has become increasingly crucial in healthcare and health research and is dependent on coping styles of people exposed to traumatic events. The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of coping-style training on increasing the marital satisfaction of wives of veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).MethodsIn this experimental study, 60 subjects were selected from the spouses of veterans with PTSD. The veterans were chosen from the Veterans Foundation of Northern Khorasan Province (Iran) in 2014. In this study, we used the Enrich questionnaire to determine the marital satisfaction of the aforementioned spouses. Subjects were assigned randomly to study and control groups. We used the training package of a Practical Guide for Stress Management according to cognitive behavioral approaches. Cognitive-behavioral group therapy was administered in 90-minute sessions over a 12-week period. We used the paired-samples t-test and ANCOVA to determine the effect of Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) between the two groups.ResultsThe mean and the standard deviation of age in the study and control groups were 36.8 ± 4.33 years and 35.3 ± 4.7 years, respectively. According to p < 0.005, a significant difference was observed between the subjects in the two groups. Therefore, treatment with cognitive behavioral group therapy showed evidence of clinical improvements in marital satisfaction of the study group.ConclusionThe results of our study showed that methods of coping with stress based on CBT are effective in increasing the marital satisfaction of wives of veterans with PTSD.

Assessing the Impact of a Multiyear Marriage Education Program

This study measured marital satisfaction of low-income couples in a Western state following participation in the Building Healthy Marriages program, which aimed to educate couples and increase relationship satisfaction. The researchers’ goals were the following: To determine the areas in which participants experienced the greatest number of problems before entering the program, to assess the program’s impact on marital satisfaction, and to examine the differences in program impact between various demographic groups. To assess the program’s impact, participants were administered the Marital Satisfaction Inventory–Revised before beginning the program and 1 year after completing the pretest. Before starting the program, couples experienced the greatest number of challenges in relationships within their families of origin and problem-solving communication and the fewest problems in areas related to their children. Couples reported significant improvements in marital satisfaction. These changes did not differ significantly between different gender and ethnicity groups.

The impact of behavioral couple therapy on attachment in distressed couples.

Emotion-focused therapy (EFT; Greenberg & Johnson, Emotionally focused therapy for couples. New York: Guilford Press) is anchored in attachment theory (Johnson, 2003 Attachment processes in couples and families. New York: Guilford) and considers change in attachment schemas essential in the process of improving satisfaction in relationships (Johnson, 1999, Research and couples therapy: Where do we go from here? American Family Therapy Academy Newsletter). However, there are little data on how measures of attachment change over the course of EFT or any other couple therapy. The current study examines whether increases in attachment security predict improvements in marital satisfaction during behavioral couple therapy, which would suggest that change in attachment style is a key process variable even for a non-attachment-focused treatment. Multilevel models of data from 134 couples participating in a randomized clinical trial of integrative behavioral couple therapy and traditional behavioral couple therapy (Christensen et al. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 72, 2004, 176) indicate that although there is a trend for early change in attachment-related anxiety and avoidance to predict later change in marital satisfaction, early change in marital satisfaction strongly predicts change in attachment-related anxiety through the end of treatment and 2-year follow-up. These findings suggest that changes in satisfaction may lead to changes in attachment rather than the reverse and that change in attachment may not be the mechanism of change in all efficacious couple therapy.

A Marital-Relationship Enhancement Program for Couples: Randomized Controlled Trial

This paper reports a randomized controlled trial to investigate the effects of a Marital-relationship enhancement program(MREP) for marital couples. Volunteer couples from several well-being centers in Seoul were randomly assigned either to a treatment group (n=36), participating in a MREP based on Gottman's "sound marital house" theory, or to a control group (n=35) receiving no treatment. The content of the MREP was provided to the control group after the research was completed. Data was collected from December 2003 to May 2004 using modified versions of the inventories developed by Gottman on marital satisfaction, positive affect, conflict regulation, and communication barriers. Participants in the experimental group showed significant improvements in marital satisfaction, positive affects, conflict regulation, and communication-barrier scores compared to the control group. The present program for marital-relationship enhancement is helpful in enhancing marital relationships and regulating conflict between marital couples and, ultimately, may be useful to prevent divorce.

Effectiveness of three types of spouse‐involved behavioral alcoholism treatment

Treatment was provided to 45 alcoholics and their spouses in one of three out-patient behavioral treatment conditions: (1) minimal spouse involvement (MSI) (n = 14), (2) alcohol-focused spouse involvement (AFSI) (n = 12), or (3) alcohol-focused spouse involvement plus behavioral marital therapy (ABMT) (n = 19). Subjects were followed for 18 months after treatment. Subjects in all conditions reported significant decreases in frequency of drinking and frequency of heavy drinking, and reported increased life satisfaction. This information was corroborated by independent reports of the spouses. Patterns of outcome varied across the three treatment conditions, with ABMT subjects showing gradual improvement in proportions of abstinent days and abstinent plus light drinking days over the last 9 months of follow-up. Subjects in the other two treatment conditions showed gradual deterioration in proportion of abstinent days and abstinent plus light drinking days. Subjects assigned to the ABMT condition were less likely to experience marital separations, and reported greater improvement in marital satisfaction and subjective well-being than the other experimental groups. Clinical and theoretical significance of these findings are discussed.

Marital interaction and satisfaction: A longitudinal view.

Two longitudinal studies of marital interaction were conducted using observational coding of couples attempting to resolve a high-conflict issue. We found that a different pattern of results predicts con-current marital satisfaction than predicts change in marital satisfaction over 3 years. Results suggest that some marital interaction patterns, such as disagreement and anger exchanges, which have usually been considered harmful to a marriage, may not be harmful in the long run. These patterns were found to relate to unhappiness and negative interaction at home concurrently, but they were predictive of improvement in marital satisfaction longitudinally. However, three interaction patterns were identified as dysfunctional in terms of longitudinal deterioration: defensiveness (which includes whining), stubborness, and withdrawal from interaction. Hypotheses about gender differences in roles for the maintenance of marital satisfaction are presented.

The relationship of marital adjustment to agoraphobia treatment outcome

The relationship between marital adjustment and behavioral treatment of agoraphobia was examined for 42 agoraphobic women and their spouses. The husbands of 28 of these women were directly involved and active participants in the treatment process, while the spouses of the remaining 14 agoraphobics did not attend treatment sessions. Results revealed that level of pretreatment marital adjustment was independent of treatment outcome for agoraphobia and treatment-produced improvement in phobic symptomatology led to an overall improvement in marital satisfaction. Furthermore, no deleterious treatment effects on spouses' psychological functioning were evident. These data suggest that spouse involvement in treatment, the use of a graduated, exposure-based treatment and more effective communication patterns between marital partners may preclude the negative effects on treatment outcome from a preexisting problematic marriage as well as any negative impact on the marriage from improvement in the client's phobic symptomatology.

Interspousal Empathy, Marital Satisfaction, and Marriage Counseling

Interspousal empathy is conceived as a fundamental part of the structure of the marital relationship along with other elements of a couple's communication, role, and value systems. In a study of 25 couples receiving marriage counseling, it was found that improvement in interspousal empathy was associated with improvement in marital satisfaction. This finding has implications for approaches to marriage counseling and is supportive of those approaches that attempt to influence directly the empathic exchanges of the couple as well as other communication elements.

Behavioral Therapy for Marital Disharmony: An Educational Approach*

A behavioral approach to marital therapy in groups includes training in communication skills; increasing the recognition, initiation, and acknowledgement of pleasing interactions; redistributing time spent in recreational and social activities; and contingency contracting. These treatment modules are offered during eight to 10 sessions spaced over a three month period. The specific techniques are imbedded in a matrix consisting of an alliance between the spouses and the co‐therapists, and group cohesiveness. Evaluations of the approach with 40 couples indicate that the group methods produce statistically significant improvements in marital satisfaction. An experimental comparison revealed that the behavioral methods led to significantly greater improvements in the observed interactions between spouses than in a group which used a discussion‐interaction format.