The Effect of Integrative Systematic Couple Therapy in a Group Method on Marital Intimacy and Coping Styles of Marital Distress

One of the vital aspects of a marital system is the satisfaction that spouses feel and experience in their relationship and having a healthy family requires a couple's adjustment and satisfaction with each other. This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of integrative systemic couple therapy on improving marital intimacy and coping styles of marital distress. The survey research method was a Semi-experimental type with a pretest, posttest design, and a control group. The study population was made up of couples who were referred to the counseling center of Maheban Al-Reza Charity Institute in Mashhad in 2018, 24 of them were selected purposefully, and after controlling the entrance and exit criteria, they were randomly replaced into two groups of 12-couples (experimental and control group). The measurement tools were Bagarozzi 2001 Marital Intimacy Questionnaire and Bodenmann 2005 Marital Coping Styles Questionnaire. Sessions based on integrated systemic couple therapy were also presented to the experimental group during 8 sessions of 90 minutes. To check the hypotheses, multivariate covariance was used in SPSS software. Results showed that marital intimacy and stress coping styles have improved with the effect of 81% and 68% in couples, respectively. the results of the research indicate the effectiveness of Feldman's systemic-integrative couple therapy on increasing emotional intimacy, spiritual intimacy as well as social intimacy and styles of coping with negative, common, and communication stress in couples.