Effectiveness of Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy on Cohesion, Adaptability, Emotional Intimacy and Quality of Communication in the Parents after the Birth of the First Child

Background and Purpose: After the birth of their first child, couples often become confused about becoming adaptable to their new living conditions and satisfying the need for emotional intimacy in line with the desired parenting style. Coping with the child-rearing problems and managing the caregiving responsibilities may make the marital relationship more complicated. This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of emotionally focused couple therapy on cohesion, adaptability, emotional intimacy and quality of communication in couples after the birth of the first child. Method: This research was a quasi-experimental study with control group pretest-posttest design. The statistical population included all the parents with a child under the age of 5 who was attending a kindergarten in Rasht during March to September 2019. The sample included 16 couples (8 in the experimental group and 8 in the control group) who were selected by convenience sampling and then randomly assigned to either the experimental or control group. The experimental group received nine 90-min sessions of emotionally focused couple therapy and the control group was put on the waiting list to receive the intervention. All participants were assessed at pretest and posttest stages through using the Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scale III (FACESIII), (Olson et al., 1985), Personal Assessment of Intimacy in Relationships Scale (Schaefer & Olson, 1981) and Quality of Communication between Couples (Khoshkam, 2006). Data were analyzed by analysis of covariance. Results: Findings showed that the emotionally focused couple therapy was positively effective on cohesion (F=500.492, P< 0.001), adaptability (F=231.225, P< 0.001), emotional intimacy (F=1362.482, P< 0.01) and quality of communication between the parents (F=244.444, P< 0.0001). Conclusion: Based on the results of this study, it can be concluded that emotionally focused couple therapy can improve the intimacy between the parents and increase their satisfaction with each other through influencing the effective communication style, developing the emotional bond, identifying beliefs and background of coupleschr('39') attachment, understanding the relation between behavior and thoughts and emotions and developing realistic expectations about parenting, especially after the birth of the first child.