Effectiveness of Cognitive-Behavioral Family Therapy on parent-child conflicts and marital conflict

The aim of the present study was to determine the effectiveness of training the components of Cognitive-Behavioral Family Therapy on the parent-child conflicts and the marital conflicts. The present research was a quasi-experimental research with pretest-posttest plan and control group, and a three-month follow-up. The study population were 86 couples with marital conflicts and parent-child conflicts referring to the salaheddin Counseling Center of Sanandaj in 2017. Participants selected were all volunteers. 30 families were selected and were randomly classified into intervention and control groups. The intervention group went through 16 twohour sessions of group Cognitive-Behavioral Family Therapy, twice a week at Salaheddin Counseling Center of Sanandaj using the method developed by Khodayari Fard, Sadeghi, Abedini (2005). The Parent-Child Relationship Scale (Fine, Moreland and Schwebel, 1983), and, the Marital Conflicts Questionnaire (Sanayi, 2000) were administered to both groups in three phases. Then, the data were analyzed by mixed analysis of variance with repeated measures. Results showed that training the components of Cognitive-Behavioral Family Therapy reduced parent-child conflicts (F= 69.658, P= 0.0001) and marital conflicts. The effect was sustained during the follow-up period (F= 35.898, P= 0.0001). Cognitive-Behavioral Family Therapy can create the intended changes in the family by challenging and correcting thoughts, mental rules, perceptions, and self-talks that create conflicts and dysfunctional relationship patterns among family members. Therefore, it could be employed as an effective intervention to reduce marital as well as parent-child conflicts.