This study aims to develop a group counselling program for married couples potentially facing divorce and to verify its effectiveness. To be specific, the development of this program was based on the Solution-focused brief family therapy theory. Subse...
This study aims to develop a group counselling program for married couples potentially facing divorce and to verify its effectiveness. To be specific, the development of this program was based on the Solution-focused brief family therapy theory. Subsequently, the program effectiveness was verified with the subjects of 15 couples who were confronted with possible divorce; 5 groups of them were the test group, 5 groups of them were the control group, and the rest of them were the comparison group. Among the three groups, only the test group participated in an 8-session program on November 21st and 22nd, and no measure was applied to the control and comparison group.
The program was proved to be effective for the couples to cope with their marriage crisis by enhancing the following four aspects: self-esteem, Primary Communication Inventory: PCI, conflict coping methods, and Marital Instability Index: MIT. Each aspect was measured through both quantitative and qualitative analysis methods. The primary results are as follows.
Firstly, the self-esteem of four male subjects out of five was significantly improved in the quantitative analysis, while there was no significant increase in female subjects' self-esteem. In the qualitative analysis, the all the subjects enhanced their self-esteem. Their prior negative expressions toward themselves were turned into the positive ones such as self-satisfaction. Secondly, in terms of Primary Communication Inventory: PCI, four male subjects out of five enhanced their communication skills in the quantitative analysis. Moreover, according to the qualitative research, the frequent communication impediments that are represented by blaming and avoiding were progressively overcame through the program. Thirdly, conflicts coping methods of all the subjects were significantly advanced after the program in the quantitative analysis. Also, according to the qualitative analysis all the couples learned to address their marital conflicts. Fourth, five male and four female subjects showed positive picture in Marital Instability Index in quantitative tests. Futhermore, all the subjects, in the qualitative research, were proved to feel enhanced sense of stability in their marital relationships.
To conclude, the Marriage-Crisis Coping program is verified to solve the problems of married couples who encountered with potential divorce, since it had improved the couples' self-esteem, Primary Communication Inventory, conflict coping methods, and Marital Instability Index.