Cognitive‐behavioral couple therapy for same‐sex female couples: A pilot study

Baucom, Donald H.; Weber, Danielle M.; Wojda, Alexandra K.; Carrino, Emily A.

doi:10.1111/famp.12696

Cited by 9 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 93 publications

(168 reference statements)

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“…Relationship education programs tailored toward female same-sex couples, such as the Strengthening Same-Sex Relationships Program (Whitton et al, 2017; now called Better Together to be more gender inclusive) and Rainbow CoupleCARE (Pepping et al, 2020), have shown preliminary effectiveness in improving both mental health and relationship functioning. Furthermore, a recently developed adaptation of cognitive–behavioral couple therapy for female same-sex couples experiencing sexual minority stress demonstrated promising effects on relationship quality and couple coping skills in a small open trial (Pentel et al, 2021). Results of the present study support the expansion of such efforts, including the adaptation of other evidence-based couple therapies (e.g., Behavioral Couples Therapy; Powers et al, 2008) to be culturally appropriate for SMW TGD communities.…”

Section: Limitations and Future Directionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Relationship quality and mental health among sexual and gender minorities.

Sarno¹,

Dyar

Newcomb³

et al. 2022

Journal of Family Psychology

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Sexual and gender minorities assigned female at birth (i.e., sexual minority women, transgender men, and gender diverse [SMW TGD] individuals) experience disproportionately high rates of anxiety, depression, and substance use problems. Romantic relationship involvement has been shown to be beneficial to mental health and substance use among sexual and gender minorities. However, few studies have explored the impact of relationship quality on mental health, or if high relationship quality can reduce the negative impact of minority stress on well-being in this population. The present study examined within-persons associations of romantic relationship quality with symptoms of anxiety and depression, and alcohol and cannabis use problems among SMW TGD individuals in romantic relationships, and tested relationship quality as a moderator of associations of minority stress with mental health and substance use. Participants were 213 SMW TGD individuals (mean age: 20.63; 70.9% cisgender women, 7.5% transgender men, and 19.2% gender diverse). Within-persons, higher relationship quality was associated with better mental health and substance use outcomes. Relationship quality at the between-persons level moderated the within-persons association of internalized heterosexism with depression, and of microaggressions with cannabis use problems. No other interaction effects were significant. The within-persons associations found in this study lend important support to relationship interventions based on theories that improvements in romantic relationship quality will result in improved well-being over time. Results can inform relationship education interventions to reduce mental health and substance use disparities in SMW TGD communities.

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Section: Limitations and Future Directionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Relationship quality and mental health among sexual and gender minorities.

Sarno¹,

Dyar

Newcomb³

et al. 2022

Journal of Family Psychology

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“…The ACCESS (Affirming Couples Counseling to Engage Same-Sex partners) program (Pentel & Baucom, 2021; Pentel et al, 2021) is a 10-session semistructured couple therapy integrating cognitive behavioral couple therapy (D. Baucom et al, 2020) with the sexual minority stress literature. The 10 sessions included (a) assessment and treatment planning, (b) communication skills training and practice, and (c) applying communication skills to sexual minority stress-related topics and other areas of relationship concern.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Flipping the curve: Patterns of emotional communication in same-sex female couples before and after couple therapy.

Weber¹,

Pentel²,

Baucom³

et al. 2022

Couple and Family Psychology: Research and Practice

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Distressed couples seeking therapy often engage in problematic patterns of communication, including emotional avoidance or rapid escalation of negative emotions. While couple therapy can alter couples' emotional communication, research to date has largely focused on different-sex, cisgender couples. Because same-sex couples have been understudied in couple therapy treatment research, particularly female, same-sex couples, it is unclear how couple therapy may alter their communication. This investigation examined couples' vocally expressed emotional arousal within conversations held before and after a novel couple therapy tailored for same-sex, cisgender female couples . At preand post-therapy, couples (N = 11) completed two recorded interactions. Emotional arousal was assessed using vocal fundamental frequency ( f 0 ). Multilevel growth curve models were used to estimate trajectories of f 0 across each pre-and post-therapy conversation. Findings indicate significant differences between the pre-and post-therapy f 0 trajectories. At pretherapy, couples' f 0 initially increased (indicating higher emotional arousal) but then decreased later in the conversation. At posttherapy, couples initially decreased in f 0 and then increased later in the conversation. Taken together, these findings suggest that, before therapy, couples may associate emotion with conflict and quickly minimize emotion after it initially escalates. After therapy, these couples may have learned how to better express and tolerate emotions when resolving conflict; therefore, the elevated arousal later in the conversation may be adaptive. These results point to the continued importance of understanding adaptive communication processes in diverse constellations of couples and how couple therapy facilitates changes.

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“…Next, we discuss how to apply this framework in the therapy room by providing examples of how intervention strategies from one evidence-based couple therapy (cognitive-behavioral couple therapy, CBCT) may be utilized to treat various SM stressors. Finally, we provide an overview of a recently completed treatment outcome pilot study that drew upon this clinical framework to develop and evaluate a tailored couple therapy for same-sex female couples (Pentel et al, in press).…”

Section: Overview Of Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In an initial effort to put this clinical framework into play, our research team recently developed and pilot tested a couple therapy for relationally distressed same-sex female couples (Pentel et al, in press). The ACCESS Program (Affirming Couples Counseling to Engage Same-Sex Partners) integrated the evidence-based CBCT (Baucom et al, 2020) with the aforementioned SM stress model.…”

Section: Framework In Action: Pilot Study Of a Same-sex Couple Therapymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Strategies that accomplish these goals likely constitute those pieces of a therapy to retain when conducting SM couple therapy. Similarly, research suggests that many SM couples seek an affirming space to address universal relationship stressors (rather than, or even in addition to SM-specific stressors) in couple therapy (Pentel et al, in press). Thus, therapists likely need not start from scratch when designing SM couple care.…”

Section: Clinical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A clinical framework for sexual minority couple therapy.

Baucom¹

2022

Couple and Family Psychology: Research and Practice

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Sexual minority (SM) couples share similar predictors of relationship distress and dissolution with couples with two heterosexual partners, highlighting a need for quality couple therapy. Though many SM couples desire culturally tailored couple care and most couple and family therapists have worked with SM clients, most therapists report feeling underprepared to deliver tailored couple therapy that best meets SM couples' needs. Effective, evidence-based couple therapies exist to treat relationship distress, yet these treatments have been overwhelmingly developed for and studied with mixed-gender, heterosexual couples. Consequently, most couple therapists are left tailoring therapy for SM couples ad hoc, without a guiding framework. This article offers a clinical framework to guide the systematic tailoring of evidence-based couple therapy for SM couples, specifically encouraging couple therapists to attend to (a) universal factors relevant to all couples' relationship functioning, (b) SM-specific factors impacting couple functioning including differentiating between the environmental-level origin of SM stress and its multilevel impact on couple well-being, and (c) within-group diversity and meaningful subgroups of SM couples to ensure we do not view SM couples as monolithic. We highlight key nonspecific/common factors that underlie SM-affirming couple therapy. Finally, we discuss the couples field's progress in offering tailored SM couple care and consider broader clinical implications of this framework in expanding the reach of evidence-based couple therapy to historically underserved groups.

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Cognitive‐behavioral couple therapy for same‐sex female couples: A pilot study

Cited by 9 publications

References 93 publications

Relationship quality and mental health among sexual and gender minorities.

Relationship quality and mental health among sexual and gender minorities.

Flipping the curve: Patterns of emotional communication in same-sex female couples before and after couple therapy.

A clinical framework for sexual minority couple therapy.

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