Comparison of the effectiveness of McMaster and Nickels family counseling approaches on couple adaptability

In the field of counseling and family psychology, various approaches have been developed with the aim of reducing conflicts and communication disorders between couples. The aim of this study was to compare the effectiveness of McMaster and Nichols family counseling approaches on couples' adaptability. The present study is a part of applied research in terms of purpose and a quasi-experimental study in terms of the method with pre-test-post-test and follow-up design. The study population consisted of all couples referring to counseling centers in Boroujerd in 2020- 2021, from which 36 couples with marital incompatibility were selected as a sample. The instruments of the present study included the Olson et al Adaptability Questionnaire (FACES-III) (1985). McMaster's family therapy intervention was performed in 10 sessions of 1.5 hours once a week and Nichols's family therapy was performed in 12 sessions of 1.5 hours once a week, But the control group did not receive any intervention. Research data were analyzed by mixed analysis of variance (repeated measures). Findings showed that McMaster's family therapy and Nichols's family therapy are effective in adaptability in couples (P <0.05). The results also showed that there was no significant difference between the effectiveness of McMaster's family therapy interventions and Nichols's family therapy in adaptation (p <0.05). It can be concluded that the use of the McMaster and Nickels model to further study the performance and structure of the family and consequently treatment planning and review the results of family therapy interventions for families is applied on a case-by-case basis.