The effect of couple therapy with self-regulation approach on marital satisfaction: a quasi-experimental study

Marital satisfaction is one of the essential components of family stability. The present study aimed to determine the effect of couple therapy with a self-regulation approach on marital satisfaction.

This was a quasi-experimental study. Participants were sixty clients referred to psychological and counseling centers in Karaj, Iran with marital problems; selected by convenience sampling method. They were randomly assigned into two groups of fifteen pairs: experimental and control groups. The marital satisfaction questions from Spanier Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS), were used for data collection. Couples in the experimental group received self-regulation therapy for eight sessions. Marital satisfaction was assessed at three points in time: baseline, immediately after the couple therapy, and two-months follow-up. Independent t-tests, one-way ANOVA with repeated measures, and LSD post hoc test was used. The significance level was considered less than 0.05.

The mean age of the experimental and control group was 32.46 and 33.43 years, respectively. Marital satisfaction score in three times assessments in the experimental group was 29.23, 40.50, and 39.1 (P<0.05), and in the control group it was 29.03, 29.20, and 25.3 respectively (P>0.05). The difference in the marital satisfaction score in the post-test and follow-up assessments between the two groups also showed a significant difference (P<0.05).

Couple therapy with a self-regulation approach improves marital satisfaction.