The Effectiveness of Dattilio Cognitive-Behavioral Couple Therapy on Stress Symptoms and Trust in Women Affected by Infidelity

Among all the problems that can occur in a marital relationship, infidelity is the most severe and threatening point for the stability of the relationship. The purpose of this research was to investigate the effectiveness of Dattilio cognitive-behavioral couple therapy in stress symptoms and trust in women affected by infidelity.

Methods and Materials:

 The research method was semi-experimental with a pre-test, post-test and follow-up design. The statistical population of the study included all women affected by marital infidelity who referred to the counseling clinic of Eltiam in Babolsar city between 2021 to 2022. The sample size included 24 couples, i.e., 12 couples of the experimental group (Dattilio cognitive-behavioral couple therapy) and 12 couples of the control group, which were selected by convenience sampling method and randomly replaced in two groups. stress Symptoms Inventory (SSI) designed by Khodayari Fard et al. (2001) and Trust in Close Relationships Scale designed by Rempel, Holmz, and Zanna (1986) was used to collect data. The method of data analysis was Repeated measure analysis of variance and using SPSS software.

The obtained results showed that Dattilio cognitive-behavioral couple therapy was effective in decreasing the stress symptoms of women affected by infidelity (F=3147/34, p≤0.05) and improving trust in marital relationship (F=17/58, p≤0.05) And its effectiveness was stable and continuous in the follow-up phase.

According to the findings, it can be said that a Dattilio cognitive-behavioral couple therapy is effective in reducing stress symptoms and improving the trust in women affected by infidelity.