Comparison of the Effectiveness of Spiritual-Islamic Interventions and Cognitive-Behavioral Approach on Increasing Marital Satisfaction in Isfahani Couples

The most important foundations of family strengthening and also the happiness of couples in the framework of cohabitation is marital satisfaction. Considering the importance of marital satisfaction in the security of home and society; the aim of this study was to compare the effectiveness of spiritual-Islamic interventions and cognitive-behavioral approach on increasing marital satisfaction in couples in Isfahan.

This study was a quasi-experimental study with pretest-posttest design with a control group. Among the couples in Isfahan who had lived together for 5 to 20 years, 45 couples were selected by available sampling method and they randomly divided into one of three groups (two experimental groups and one control group). The therapies used included cognitive-behavioral therapy based on Frey's view (Mohammadi and Farnam, 2005) and spiritual-religious psychotherapy based on the model of Richards and Bergin (2004) with emphasis on the teachings of Islam, each of which was performed in 12 sessions. The Enrich Marital Satisfaction Questionnaire (1998) was used to collect data. The obtained data were analyzed using univariate analysis of covariance and SPSS-25 software.

The finding showed that the mean score of marital satisfaction in the group of Islamic spiritual intervention was significant and higher than cognitive-behavioral intervention (p<0.05). The mean of marital score in the group of cognitive-behavioral intervention was significant and less than Islamic spiritual intervention (p<0.05). Cognitive-behavioral intervention had no significant effect on financial management compared to Islamic spiritual intervention.

The results showed that both groups had more marital satisfaction than the control group, although, when comparing two experimental groups, the role of Islamic spiritual intervention in marital satisfaction of couples was more than cognitive-behavioral intervention. It is suggested that in order to prevent marital dissatisfaction and unresolved harms of couples, Islamic spiritual and cognitive-behavioral interventions to be considered and used by couples according to the existing situations.