Effect of psychoeducation based on choice theory on marital satisfaction and increasing couples’ adaptability: a double-blind randomized clinical trial

Background: Considering the high prevalence of couples' complaints due to marital conflicts, it is important to improve marital satisfaction in order to set up and increase the social and individual mental health and the functional necessity of the family as the basis foundation for promoting the community’s potential capability. Objective: This study was conducted to use reality therapy based on choice theory to assess treatment outcomes in couples with marital conflict and dissatisfaction. Methods: In this double-blind randomized clinical trial, 20 couples (40 individuals) referring from psychiatric and psychological clinics of Mashhad city between December 2017 to September 2018 were randomly allocated into two groups of intervention and control. After completing the 115-item ENRICH Marital Satisfaction Scale, Family Assessment Device (FAD) and Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS) questionnaires, the intervention group received Glasser's theory of choice psychoeducation while a control group received supportive psychotherapy by a psychiatrist and a couple therapist for eight sessions in eight consecutive weeks (two hours each session). The evaluation was carried out at the beginning of the study, week 1, week 8 (immediately after completing the intervention) and week 12 (four weeks after completing the intervention). Data were analyzed by IBM-SPSS 21. A p≤0.05 was considered significant in examining the hypotheses. Results: Eighteen couples (36 individuals) continued until the end of the study. The mean ages in the intervention and control groups were 34.02±1.15 years and 36.7±3.2 respectively. Participants' clinical features including age, sex, education, couple therapy history, number of children, and familial relationship were not significantly different between the two groups. The results of ENRICH and family function scale showed that there was a significant difference between the two groups immediately and 4 weeks after completion of the intervention (p=0.002) Conclusion: The results of this study suggested that psychoeducation based on choice theory has a significant effect on marital adaptability and satisfaction as well as family function. Trial registration: The current study was registered at the Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials (http://wwwirct.ir) (ID: IRCT20180504039519N1). Funding: No financial support was received by authors for the research. Keywords: Theory of choice, Marital adaptability, Marital satisfaction, Couple