The Effectiveness of a Unified Protocol for the Family Therapy on Emotional Divorce and Marital Boredom in Women with Marital Conflict

Background: Marital conflicts are normal in a couplechr('39')s life, and the important thing is how they resolve such conflicts. This integrated therapy plan has been created by considering several theories to reduce couples’ marital conflicts. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the Unified Protocol based on the McMaster model of family, compassion-focused therapy, and mindfulness-based therapy on emotional divorce and marital boredom of women with marital conflict. Method: for present study used a quasi-experimental method with pre-test and post-test design with a control group. The research population included all women with marital conflict who referred to four selected counseling centers in district 2 of Tehran Municipality in 2019. A total of 100 women were selected by convenient sampling. Then, they filled out the Emotional Divorce Scale (1997) and the Marital Disaffection Scale (1996). They were then randomly assigned in two experimental and control groups (each group with 15 participants). The participants in the intervention group underwent the intervention with a 12-session training package. After the 3 months the follow up was taken. Upon the completion of the intervention, the participants in both groups completed the questionnaires. The collected data were analyzed using multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) with SPSS software v.24. Results: The results indicated that a significant difference between the experimental and control groups in terms of emotional divorce (P = 0.001, F = 57.67) and marital boredom (P = 0.001, F=26.80) in the post-test phase. In addition, after 3 months the findings showed that scores in both post-test and follow-up stages was performed with Bonferroni correction were significance (P=0.005) Conclusion: Based on the findings of the study, it can be suggested that the transdiagnostic treatment can decrease emotional divorce and marital boredom of women with marital conflict. This unified model can be applied by family and marriage counselors and other mental health professionals to resolve conflicts in relationships between couples.