The Effectiveness of Group Contracting and Behavioral Activation Therapy with and without Family Support on Marital Stress in Coronary Heart Disease

Marital stress is an important issue associated with incidence and maintenance of coronary heart disease and adverse consequences of this disease. This research aimed to investigate the effectiveness of group contracting and behavioral activation therapy with and without family support on marital stress in coronary heart disease patients (CHD). In the Quasi-experimental design، fifty nine married male coronary heart patients were selected and randomly assigned to two experimental and control groups. Participants completed Stockholm-Tehran Marital Stress Scale (STMSS)، Social Support Questionnaire and a demographic questionnaire as the pretest، posttest and follow up. The treatment groups only received therapeutic intervention in 7 sessions (once weekly) and 6 month later were followed up. The results showed that there were statistically significant differences in marital stress among contracting and behavioral activation therapy group، contracting and behavioral activation therapy group with family support، and the control group (P<0/001). It was concluded that clinicians can use this therapy for the reduction of marital stress in patients with coronary heart disease as a means of quality of life promotion and recovery from the disease.