The Effect of Brief Solution-Focused Group Couple Therapy on Increasing Marital Intimacy of Couples

Brief solution-focused therapy is a collaborative and non-pathological approach for therapy which puts emphasis on finding solutions by the client with the help of therapist. The present research was conducted by the aim of investigating the effect of brief solution-focused couple therapy on increasing marital intimacy among couples.The present research is of applied research which uses semi-experimental method and the design is of pretest-posttest with control group. The population of the current research includes all the couples who have visited Golha-Fatemi health center in 2016 because of lack of intimacy in their relationships in order to get professional counseling and psychological helps. After initial screening and based on inclusion-exclusion criteria of the research, 16 couples were selected by available sampling method, and they were assigned into experiment and control groups (8 couples per group). The data were gathered through marital intimacy scale of Walker and Thompson. After taking the pretest from both groups, the brief solution-focused group therapy was offered to the experiment group in seven 2-hour sessions with a step by step method with the sequence of one session per week, but the control group received no intervention. After finishing the therapy sessions, posttest was taken from both groups. The data were analyzed through univariate covariance analysis test (ANCOVA) with SPSS-20. Findings of covariance analysis indicated that brief solution-focused couple therapy has improved marital intimacy in couples of the experiment group in posttest. Counselors and family therapists can use the findings of the current research in their clinical and therapeutic interventions, and use this therapeutic, practical and effective approach for improving marital intimacy.