Effect of Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy on Attachment Behavior and Marital Intimacy in Patients with Coronary Artery Disease

Today, coronary artery disease (CVD) is one of the world's most common disorders, and prevention is the key to controlling the disease. The present study aims to determine the effectiveness of emotionally focused couple therapy (EFCT) on attachment behavior and marital intimacy in patients with CVD.

A semi-experimental study with pre-test, post-test, and follow-up design was conducted in 34 couples, that one of the partners had CVD, in Mashhad, Iran 2022. Those who met the inclusion criteria were randomly assigned into an intervention group (n=16 couples) or a control group (n=18 couples) using Permuted block randomization. An emotionally focused couple therapy based on the Healing Hearts Together (HHT) educational program was performed in the intervention group during eight weekly, 2-hour sessions. The control group received only routine care. Data were collected using the Brief Accessibility, Responsiveness and Engagement Scale (BAER) and the marital intimacy needs questionnaire (MINQ) before, after, and two months after the intervention. Data were analyzed using Chi-square, independent t-test, and repeated measures ANOVA.

In the intervention group, the pre-test, post-test and follow-up mean scores for the attachment behavior (45.62±5.89, 53.81±3.10, and 50.87±2.44, respectively), and the components of emotional intimacy (37.56±5.22, 41.75±2.93, and 39.93±2.20, respectively), psychological intimacy (32.43±2.36, 37.25±2.86, and 36.50±4.06, respectively), rational intimacy (34.68±5.68, 36.75±2.90, and 36.37±2.87, respectively), sexual intimacy (32.18±4.38, 37.01±4.44, and 39.06±4.69, respectively), and physical intimacy (33.87±4.58, 38.25±3.51, and 39.37±3.98, respectively) showed significant increase at post-test and follow-up (P<0.04) , but there were no significant differences between the scores in the control group (P>0.05).

Emotionally focused couple therapy based on the Healing Hearts Together (HHT) educational program can improve attachment behavior, and marital intimacy in patients with coronary artery disease.