Middle Eastern Journal of Disability Studies

Abstract
Background & Objectives: The family as a social unit is the center of growth, evolution, change, and destruction. It serves as a foundation for the flourishing or collapsing of all relations between its members. One of the most common problems in couples is marital burnout, a painful physical, emotional, and psychological condition, affecting those who expect dream love to give meaning to their lives. The role of emotion among the factors preventing marital problems has been the subject of much research over the past few decades. One of the treatment models is couple therapy based on the Satir approach. This approach helps people to discover their dysfunctional patterns and understand and express their feelings through a level pattern. Therefore, the present study was conducted to determine the effectiveness of group counseling based on Satir's communication approach to marital burnout and emotional regulation.
Methods: This quasi–experimental research employed a pretest–posttest design with a control group. The statistical population comprised all married women referred to counseling and family clinics in Tehran City, Iran, in 2021. Since the number of subjects in the groups in the quasi–experimental studies should be at least 15, we recruited 30 women using available sampling. We then randomly assigned them to the experimental and control groups (each group of 15 people). The inclusion criteria were as follows: having a higher–than–average score on the Marital Burnout Scale, showing commitment to attend the therapy sessions, holding a minimum diploma level, lacking specific mental illness using the Minnesota Multifaceted Personality Inventory (MMOI), and not participating in other therapeutic interventions. The exclusion criteria included the absence of more than three sessions from the intervention and non–compliance with group therapy rules. The study data were gathered from two groups in the pretest and posttest via the Marital Burnout Scale (Pines, 1996) and the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (Garnefski & Kraaij, 2006). A group counseling program based on Satir's communication approach was administered to the experimental group in 8 sessions of 90 minutes. The control group did not undergo any intervention. Data were analyzed in two sections: descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. At the level of descriptive statistics, frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation were calculated. At the level of inferential statistics, univariate analysis of covariance, the independent t test, and the Chi–square test were performed in SPSS software version 24. The significance level of the tests was considered 0.05.
Results: The results showed that all subscales of marital burnout variable (physical fatigue, emotional fatigue, and psychological fatigue) (p<0.001) and cognitive emotion regulation variable (self–blame, acceptance, rumination, positive refocusing, refocusing on planning, positive reappraisal, perspective–taking, catastrophizing and blaming others) (p<0.001) were significantly different between the experimental and control groups in the posttest, after removing the effect of the pretest.
Conclusion: According to the findings, group counseling based on the Satir communication approach facilitates direct dialogue between people, effectively improving and regulating couples' emotions and reducing marital burnout.