Effectiveness of integrated Gottman-Emotional Focused and Strategic-Solution Focused approaches on decreasing the desire for divorce

Desire for divorce is the degree of desire and interest of couples to separate and break the marital relationship. In studying the causes of divorce, consideration of individual and psychological causes, including desire for divorce is of particular importance. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of integrated Gottman-Emotional focused )GEF( and Strategic-Solution focused (SSF) approaches on decreasing desire for divorce in couples applying for agreed divorce. For this purpose, six couples (12 persons) were selected among all couples referring to counseling centers in Poledokhtar city in 2018. In this research, a single-case experimental design of a multiple baseline was used. The GEF  and SSF treatment protocols were implemented in two to four stages of the baseline, eight to ten intervention sessions and three follow up steps. couples responded to divorce desire questionnaire (DDQ) (Rosbult et al, 1986). The results showed that the rate of improvement in the variable of desire for divorce in the group of GEF approach in the post-treatment and follow-up stages was 53.04 and 65% and in the group of SSF approach, 42.98 and 76/51%, in other words, both approaches had a significant effect on the goals of the treatment. Therefore, it can be concluded that in order to reduce the desire for divorce in couples applying for divorce, it is possible to use both integrated Gottman-Emotional focused and integrated Strategic-Solution focused approaches in treatment and consulting sessions.