The comparison of the effectiveness of schema-based, emotional focused, and acceptance and commitment couple therapy on reduceing the desire for divorce of couples among military families on the verge of divorce

The unfortunate consequences of divorce justify the necessity of conducting research to find the most effective scientific methods for its prevention and reduction. Hence, the present study was conducted to compare the effectiveness of schema-based (ST), emotionally focused (EFT), and acceptance and commitment-based (ACT) couple therapies on reducing the desire for divorce among couples on the verge of divorce in military families.

The research method was quasi-experimental with pre-post test and follow-up. From all the couples who referred to one of the counseling centers under the contract of the armed forces in 2020, 60 couples (ST, EFT, ACT, and control groups; 15 couples in each group) were selected by available sampling method with random allocation. The experimental groups participated in the treatment sessions for 10 sessions. The research tool was divorce desire questionnaire (Rusbult, Johnson, and Morrow), which was completed by the couples of all three experimental groups in three stages of pre-test, post-test, and follow up. Finally, data was  analysized using analysis of covariance in repeated measures designs.

The results showed that all three methods of couple therapy were significantly effective on the divorce tendency reduction. The highest level of effectiveness belonged to EFT, ST, and ACT couple therapy with the effect size of 0.976, 0.963, and 0.927, respectively.

Couple therapy interventions can be used with clinical and therapeutic interventions to decrease the desire for divorce in couples applying for divorce.