Comparing the Effectiveness of Bowen Systematic and Solution-Focused Counseling on Reducing the Divorce Risk, Burnout and Marital Discord among Discordant Females

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to study discordant females regarding the comparison of the effectiveness of Bowen systematic and solution-focused counseling on reducing the risk of divorce, burnout and marital discord. The reseach design is quasi-experimental employing multiple groups pretest-posttest. The participants consisted of all women attending in Justice Depertment of Ardabil for divorce in 2016. The participants included 45 discordant women (divorce applicants) who were selected through convenience sampling method and were assigned to three groups (two experimental groups and one control group). The marital burnout questionnaire, marital instability index (MII), and Beier-Sternberg discord questionnaire (DQ) were used for data collection. Bowen systematic counseling and solution-focused counselig were provided for experimental groups in 7 sessions of an hour and a half each. Whereas, the control group did not receive any intervention. The results of the analysis of variance and Duncan's post hoc test showed that solution-focused counseling was more effective than Bowen systematic method in reducing divorce risk, burnout, and marital discord (p < 0.05). These results can be a strong for applying the priority of solution-focused counseling method to reduce the risk of divorce, burnout and marital discord among discordant women, thereby preventing family breakdown; this method can also be used to prevent marital conflicts.

Keywords

• bowen systematic counseling
• divorce risk, marital burnout, solution-focused counseling