THE EFFECT OF GROUP TRAINING OF PRACTICAL APPLICATION OF INTIMATE RELATIONSHIP SKILLS (PAIRS) PROGRAM ON ENHANCING MARITAL SATISFACTION, ADJUSTMENT, POSITIVE FEELINGS AND INTIMACY OF COUPLES

Practical application of intimate relationship skills (PAIRS) program is one of the programs specified for enriching marriage and marital life, which is aimed to help the couples to become aware of themselves and their spouse, explore the thoughts and feelings of their spouse, extend their empathy and intimacy, develop effective relationships and problem solving skills. The present research was conducted by the purpose of determining the effectiveness of group training based on practical application of intimate relationship skills program in enhancing satisfaction, adjustment, positive feelings, and intimacy of couples. The present research is an experimental and interventional study, with pretest-posttest and follow-up with control group. The population of this research consists of all the couples visiting Health Care House of Golha-Fatemi in the second half of 1392 (first half of 2013). Using the available sampling method, a sample with the size of 40 people (20 couples) was selected, and the couples were replaced in two groups of experiment and control (each group with 10 couples) using random assignment. For gathering the data, the marital satisfaction questionnaire of Enriching and Nurturing Relational Issues, Communication and Happiness (ENRICH) (1989), Dyadic Adjustment Scale (1976), the Positive Feelings Scale (1975), and Marital Intimacy Scale (1983) were used. Research tools were completed in stages of pretest, posttest, and follow-up (after one month) by the subjects of two groups. The practical application of intimate relationship skills program was taught to the experiment group couples in 13 sessions of 2 hours, but the couples in the control group did not receive any intervention. For analyzing the data, the statistical software SPSS20, and multivariate covariance analysis (MONCOVA) were used. The results indicated that group training based on practical application of intimate relationship skills program has enhanced satisfaction, adjustment, positive feelings, and marital intimacy among couples of the experiment group in stages of posttest and follow-up. There appeared no significant difference in the control group. Practical application of intimate relationship skills program is effective in improving relationships and enhancing the quality of marital life in couples. Counselors and family/marriage therapists can use this training program for the purpose of flourishing couples’ relationships and preventing emergence of marital problems.