The Effect of Compassion-Based Counseling on Marital Intimacy of Conflicted Couples

Background: The occurrence of marital conflicts decreases the quality ofcommunication between couples and marital intimacy. Therefore, the presentstudy was conducted to determine the effect of compassion-based counselingon marital intimacy of conflicted couples in Isfahan.Methods: The research method was quasi-experimental with a pretestposttestdesign and control group. The statistical population included allcouples referring to Isfahan counseling centers in 1396. The sample size was30 couples who were selected by purposive non-random sampling methodand were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. Theintervention group received compassion-based counseling intervention for 8sessions which lasted an hour and a half for 2 months. Then, subjects in bothgroups were examined. The instruments used were the marital conflictquestionnaire and marital intimacy questionnaire. After collecting thequestionnaires and extracting the raw data, data were analyzed by SPSS(version 23) using descriptive statistics and covariance analysis.Results: The results showed that compassion-based counseling had a significanteffect on the marital intimacy of couples in the post-test phase (P < 0.0001). Thistreatment could increase the marital intimacy of conflicted couples.Conclusion: Based on the findings of the present study, it can be concludedthat compassion-based therapy using techniques such as mindfulness training,empathy, and sympathy for oneself and managing difficult emotions canenhance the marital intimacy of the conflicted couples. In this regard,compassion-based therapy can be used as an effective treatment to increasethe marital intimacy of conflicted couples.

کلیدواژه ها:

Compassion-Based Counseling ، Marital Intimacy ، Marital Conflicts