The Effectiveness of Resilience Training on Improving the Quality of Marital Life and Resiliency of Prisoners of War Families

Background and Aim: One of the important psychological aspects of prisoners of war (POW) and veterans, which can be neglected in most societies, is their family and marital problems. The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of resilience trining on quality of marital life and resiliency of POW families. Methods: This quasi-experimental study was conducted with a pre-test-post-test design and a two-month follow-up with a control group in 2017. 30 POW from Divandere city of Kurdistan province, Iran were selected by simple random sampling method and randomly assigned to two intervention and control groups (15 people in each group). The intervention group received a resilience training program for ten sessions, each session lasting two hours for two months, but the control group did not receive training. The Marital Quality Questionnaire [Revised Dyadic Adjustment Scale (RDAS)] and the Family Resilience Assessment Scale (FRAS) were used to collect data. Results: The mean quality of marital life and resiliency of POW family in the intervention group was higher than the control group in post-test and there was a significant difference (p <0.01) and this increase was maintained in the follow-up session. Conclusion: Resiliency training can have a lasting and stable impact on improving the quality of marital life and Family resiliency in POW.