Efficacy of the Olson-Gottman Empowerment Program in Group Settings for Reducing Marital Conflict and a Desire to Divorce

Marital conflicts, the desire to divorce, and broken marital relationships can have negative psychological and social repercussions. The current study evaluated the Olson-Gottman empowerment program's effectiveness in reducing marital conflict and the desire for divorce when implemented in a group setting. The study utilized a semi-experimental design with pre-test, post-test, and follow-up evaluations, including a control group. The population consisted of all couples with marital conflict and a desire for divorce referred to counseling centers in the city of Varamin in 2018. Random sampling was used to select 30 couples, with 15 couples assigned to the experimental group and 15 to the control group. The Marital Conflicts Questionnaire (MCQ) and the Willingness to Divorce Questionnaire. were utilized as research instruments. The Olson-Gottman empowerment program for the experimental group consisted of twelve 90-minute sessions, whereas the control group received no intervention. In addition, the research tools were administered again two months after the intervention to assess the intervention's effects. The data were analyzed using variance analysis with repeated measures. The results indicated that the Olson-Gottman empowerment program significantly decreased marital conflict (P<0/05; F=51.72) and the desire to divorce (P<0/05; F=26.10) and that these effects were maintained during the follow-up phase. These results indicate that the Olson-Gottman empowerment program may be useful in therapy and counseling sessions to reduce marital conflict and the desire to divorce.