Comparing effectiveness of the religion-based forgiveness training and the fairness-based contextual therapy on improvement of self-esteem and empathy of betrayed women in Ahvaz

Infidelity in marriage is a major cause of marital dissatisfaction and also the main cause of marital and sexual conflicts and incompatibilities, therefore; the purpose of the present study was to compare the effectiveness of the religion-based forgiveness training and the fairness-based contextual therapy on improvement of self-esteem and empathy of betrayed women in Ahvaz.

Methods and Materials: 

The research method was experimental with a pre-test and post-test design and a control group with random assignment. The statistical population of this research included all married women who had experienced infidelity who referred to international counseling centers and Rah Kamal in Ahvaz city, out of which 45 people were selected using available sampling method and randomly and equally passed to the training group. Religion-based (experiment 1), fairness-based contextual therapy group (experiment 2) and control group were assigned. Subjects responded to Rosenberg's self-esteem scale (1965) and Bateson's scale of empathic traits (Bateson et al. 1983). Each experimental group received the number of relevant training sessions based on their respective instructions, while the control group did not receive any intervention during this period. Data were analyzed using multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA), Bonferroni post hoc test and SPSS software version 26.

The results of Bonferroni's post hoc test showed that religion-based forgiveness training and justice-oriented contextual therapy increase self-esteem (p < 0.001) and empathy (p < 0.001) of betrayed women compared to the control group. However, there was no significant difference between the two methods in increasing self-esteem (p = 0.415) and empathy (p = 0.114) of betrayed women.

Based on the results, it can be said that in order to help increase the self-esteem and empathy of betrayed women towards their husbands, any of the methods of religion-based forgiveness training or justice-based contextual therapy can be used successfully.