Observed communication in couples two years after integrative and traditional behavioral couple therapy: Outcome and link with five-year follow-up.

Abstract

Objective To examine changes in observed communication after therapy termination in distressed couples from a randomized clinical trial. Method 134 distressed couples were randomly assigned to either Traditional Behavioral Couple Therapy (TBCT; Jacobson & Margolin, 1979) or Integrative Behavioral Couple Therapy (IBCT; Jacobson & Christensen, 1998). Videotaped samples of each couple’s interactions were coded from pre-therapy, post-therapy, and 2-year follow-up assessments. At these three time points, each partner chose one current relationship problem to discuss. Relationship satisfaction was assessed at 2-year follow-up and clinically significant treatment response and marital status were assessed 5 years after treatment. Results Observed negativity and withdrawal decreased from therapy termination through the 2-year follow-up as expected but problem solving did not change and observed positivity decreased. IBCT produced superior changes from post-therapy to the 2-year follow-up assessment compared with TBCT. Post-therapy levels and changes in communication over follow-up were associated with wife satisfaction at 2-year follow-up; only post-therapy to 2-year follow-up changes in communication were associated with husband satisfaction at 2-year follow-up. Post-therapy levels of problem solving and changes in wives’ positivity from pre-therapy to post-therapy were associated with 5-year relationship outcomes. We found some counterintuitive results with positivity but they were no longer significant after controlling for withdrawal. Conclusion We found support for improvements in observed communication following treatment termination, with IBCT demonstrating greater maintenance of communication improvement over follow-up. We found limited evidence of associations between communication and relationship outcomes at 5-year follow-up.

Terapia de Casal e Estratégias de Resolução de Conflito: Uma Revisão Sistemática

“…As perspectivas teóricas dos estudos foram predominantemente comportamentais e cognitivo-comportamentais (Baucom, Baucom, & Christensen, 2015;Baucom, Sevier, Eldridge, Doss, & Christensen, 2011;Bélanger, Laporte, Sabourin, & Wright, 2015;Kirby & Baucom, 2007a;2007b;Li, Lin, Nelson, & Eckstein, 2008;Sevier, Eldridge, Jones, Doss, & Christensen, 2008) em detrimento das abordagens sistêmicas, teoria do apego e teoria psicodinâmica (Conradi, Jonge, Neeleman, Simons, & Sytema, 2011;Makinen, & Johnson, 2006;Schielke et al, 2011;Tilden, Hoffart, Sexton, Finset, & Gude, 2011;Zuccarini, Johnson, Dalgleish, & Makinen, 2013). Esse resultado pode estar associado ao fato de as primeiras abordagens estarem mais pró-ximas dos pressupostos positivistas, quantitativos em ciência, que podem ser comparados à utilização de protocolos e manuais.…”

“…Esse resultado pode estar associado ao fato de as primeiras abordagens estarem mais pró-ximas dos pressupostos positivistas, quantitativos em ciência, que podem ser comparados à utilização de protocolos e manuais. Além disso, observa-se o rigor metodológico dos estudos nas abordagens comportamentais e cognitivo-comportamentais que utilizaram, predominantemente, ensaios clínicos randomizados (Baucom et al, 2011;Bélanger et al, 2015).…”

“…Além disso, quatro estudos focaram abordagem teórica e temáticas associadas à resolução dos conflitos (Baucom et al, 2011;Sevier et al, 2008;Zuccarini et al, 2013). Três estudos envolveram a abordagem comportamental e a variável comunicação (Baucom et al, 2011;Sevier et al, 2008), enquanto um estudo envolveu mais de uma abordagem e os problemas de apego (Zuccarini et al, 2013).…”

“…Três estudos envolveram a abordagem comportamental e a variável comunicação (Baucom et al, 2011;Sevier et al, 2008), enquanto um estudo envolveu mais de uma abordagem e os problemas de apego (Zuccarini et al, 2013). Outras variáveis investigadas foram a satisfação conjugal (Sevier et al, 2008) e a resolução de conflitos (Baucom et al, 2011).…”

“…Três estudos envolveram a abordagem comportamental e a variável comunicação (Baucom et al, 2011;Sevier et al, 2008), enquanto um estudo envolveu mais de uma abordagem e os problemas de apego (Zuccarini et al, 2013). Outras variáveis investigadas foram a satisfação conjugal (Sevier et al, 2008) e a resolução de conflitos (Baucom et al, 2011). A comparação entre diferentes terapias e a análise da comunicação entre os cônjuges já era investigada em estudos anteriores à última década (Baucom, 1982;Behrens et al, 1990;Braukhaus et al, 2003;Sayers et al, 1991).…”