The Effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Group Counseling on Feeling of Loneliness in Women the Trauma of Infidelity

Abstract

Infidelity is one of the most harmful interpersonal issues in family, which in many cases can lead to the development of emotional and behavioral symptoms in the person who has been betrayed. In this regard, the present study was undertaken with the aim to identifying the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment group counseling on feeling of loneliness in women suffering from the trauma of infidelity. The research method was experimental and the design was quasi-experimental using pretest-posttest with control group. The statistical population included women victims of infidelity referring to counseling centers and family courts in Tehran, Iran, in 2017. Thirty couples were selected via purposeful and available sampling method based on the study’s criteria and randomly assigned to experimental (n=15) and control groups (n=15) (finally were investigated through dual assessment of pretest-posttest). All participants were asked to complete UCLA Loneliness Scale (Russell, Peplau & Cutrona, 1980). In addition, the participants in the experimental group attended 8 sessions of 90-minute acceptance and commitment group counseling and the control group received no training. The results of univariate analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) indicated that acceptance and commitment group counseling significantly decreased the post-test average scores of feeling of loneliness in experimental group. Thus, it could be concluded that acceptance and commitment group counseling is an effective method in reducing feeling of loneliness in women suffering from the trauma of infidelity and can be used by counselors and therapists in the field of family therapy.

Keywords

• infidelity
• acceptance and commitment group counseling
• feeling of loneliness
• women