The effectiveness of film therapy on communication patterns and expressing positive feelings towards the spouse among couples with marital conflict

The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of film therapy on communication patterns and expressing positive feelings to spouses among couples with marital conflicts. This research utilized a pre-test and post-test experimental design with a control group and in this study, the study population was all couples referred to Valiasr Neighborhood in Tehran in the year 2019 who were selected according to inclusion criteria of 16 couples and were randomly assigned into two experimental and control groups (8 couples each). The experimental group received 8 sessions of 2-hour film therapy in 8 weeks and the control group did not receive any psychological intervention during this period. The participants were evaluated by Oleary et al.'s (1983) Positive Feelings Questionnaire and Christensen and Sullaway's (1984) communication patterns Questionnaire. Data were analyzed using multivariate analysis of covariance test. The findings showed a significant difference between the two groups in communication patterns and expressing positive feelings to the spouse in the post-test stage (P<0.05). From the above findings, it can be concluded that film therapy effectively improves communication patterns and positive feelings towards spouses in couples with marital conflicts.