Middle Eastern Journal of Disability Studies

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Armin Z, Fakhri M K, Hasanzadeh R. The Effects of Couple Enrichment Training on Optimism, Marital Burnout, and Attitude towards Infidelity in Infidel Couples. MEJDS 2021; 11 :5-5
URL: http://jdisabilstud.org/article-1-2314-en.html

Background & Objectives: Destructive moderating factors, such as infidelity and open relationships outside of marital life can detach the emotional bond between couples; they can also negatively affect the performance, stability, and continuity of marital relationships. One of the main reasons for the high divorce rate can be attributed to the issue of marital and sexual infidelity; an action that leads to instability in relationships and has been raised as a growing concern in Iranian society. It is essential to develop a measure of optimism and realism (not mere optimism) and to cultivate it, especially in betrayed women, to be aware of their ability to control the situation. By cultivating and strengthening this structure, we can take steps to reduce the adverse consequences of infidelity, including feelings of anger, shame, depression, helplessness, marital burnout, pessimism, and finally divorce. Paying attention to married life has been growing, as a healthy society is based on healthy families. Therefore, the current study aimed to investigate the effects of enrichment training for couples based on the Enrich model on optimism, marital burnout, and attitudes toward infidelity in infidel couples.
Methods: This was a quasi–experimental study with a pretest–posttest and a control group design. The statistical population of this study consisted of individuals who were referred to the counseling and psychology centers of Sabzevar City, Iran, in 2018–19 to receive pre–divorce counseling. In total, 14 couples (28 subjects) were selected by the convenience sampling method. Accordingly, they were randomly divided into two groups of 7 couples (14 subjects) as the experimental and control groups. The inclusion criteria of the study included a willingness to attend regular and consecutive meetings, having at least a third grade of middle school education, not having bio psychological problems (based on the medical records in the counseling center according to the history of clients and based on the psychologist’s diagnosis), a history of at least one year of living together and not being divorced or separated. The exclusion criteria of the study included absence from more than two treatment sessions and not attending training classes and couples counseling. The experimental group received enrichment training for couples based on Enrich model (Olson & Olson, 1996) in six 90–minute weekly sessions. The necessary data were collected before and after the training sessions by the Attitude toward Infidelity Scale (Whitty, 2003), the Marital Burnout Scale (Pines, 1987), and the Revised Life Orientation Test (Scheier et al., 1994). The collected data were analyzed by Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) using SPSS. The significance level of the tests was considered 0.05.
Results: The present research results revealed that by controlling the effects of the pretest, the provided training increased optimism (p<0.001), and decreased marital burnout (p<0.001) and attitude toward infidelity (p<0.001) in the explored infidel couples.
Conclusion: The study data suggested that enrichment training based on the Enrich model was effective in improving optimism, as well as decreasing marital burnout and attitudes toward infidelity in infidel couples. Thus, this training can be used in counseling and psychology centers to improve the psychological consequences of marital infidelity.