. Maryam Dafei; . Fateme Jahanbazi; . Farahnaz Nazari; . Faranak Safdari Dehcheshmeh; . Ali Dehghani
Volume 11, Issue 5 , June 2021, , Pages 1-8
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Quality of relationship marital status affects all aspects of family functioning,including sustainability of cohabit living, supporting children, and happiness of couples. ...
Read More
BACKGROUND: Quality of relationship marital status affects all aspects of family functioning,including sustainability of cohabit living, supporting children, and happiness of couples. This studywas conducted to examine the effect of group cognitive‑behavioral counseling on optimism andself‑esteem of women during the 1st month of marriage that referring to marriage counseling center.MATERIALS AND METHODS: A semi‑experimental study was designed by a test, posttest, andfollow‑up. Participants consisted of 30 women admitted to premarriage counseling center of Farsancity in 2018 with using purposive sampling by random numbers’ table into experimental and controlgroups. The experimental group participated in eight consecutive 2‑h group counseling sessions.Data collection tools were demographic questionnaire, Rosenberg’s Self‑Esteem Scale, and optimismdesigned by Mir Ahmadi (reliability and validity are calculated and was 0.96) and completed in threerounds. Women’s self‑esteem retested was done after 1 month. Data were analyzed with independentt‑test and repeated measures ANOVA (significance level <0.005). Quantitative variables wereanalyzed using the Kolmogorov–Smirnov test.RESULTS: There were no significant differences between optimism scores in theexperimental (M = 150.47, standard deviation [SD] = 22.07) and control groups (M = 149.2,SD = 21.54) prior to intervention (P = 0.875). The mean optimism score was significantly different inintervention (M = 169.33, SD = 17.01) and control (M = 147.2, SD = 22.22) groups immediately aftercounseling (P = 0.005) and 1 month after counseling (P = 0.002, M = 171.08, SD = 17.98). The meanself‑esteem scores were statistically significant in both groups immediately after counseling (P = 0.023,I: M = 37.06, SD = 8.69, C: M = 31.4, SD = 4.83) and 1 month after counseling (P = 0.028, I: M =34.73, SD = 4.93, C: M = 30.06, SD = 4.8).CONCLUSION: Cognitive‑behavioral counseling enhances women’s optimism by emphasizingthe training of communication and conflict resolution skills, which leads to positive attitude and lifesatisfaction. Therefore, using cognitive‑behavioral counseling in marriage counseling sessions canimprove couples’ relationships.
