اثربخشی رویکرد آموزش گروهی راه حل محور با سبک‌های دلبستگی زنان دچار طلاق عاطفی

Effectiveness of solution-oriented group training approach with attachment styles of women with cold emotional relationship

Hoora Ghorbani[1] ^*, Hossein Qamari Gavi,[2] Ali Sheikhul Islami[3]

[1] - (Corresponding author) senior expert in family counseling; Mohagheg Ardabili University; Ardabil; Iran. Ardabil, End of University St., P. 179, Faculty of Educational Sciences and Psychology, Department of Psychology, hooragh828@gmail.com

[1] - Professor, Department of Counseling, Faculty of Educational Sciences and Psychology, Mohaghegh Ardabili University, Ardabil, Iran, Ardabil, End of University St., P. 179, Faculty of Educational Sciences and Psychology, Department of Psychology,

[1] - Associate Professor, Educational Department of Counseling, Faculty of Educational Sciences and Psychology, Mohaghegh Ardabili University, Ardabil, Iran, Ardabil, End of University St., P. 179, Faculty of Educational Sciences and Psychology, Department of Psychology

Abstract

Introduction: The current research was conducted to determine the effectiveness of group training based on the solution-oriented approach to attachment styles in women who have experienced an emotional divorce.

Materials and methods: The purpose of this research was practical, and in terms of the method, a semi-experimental pre-test-post-test type was conducted with a control group. The statistical population of the research included women who had an emotional divorce in 2022, and 30 of them were selected using available sampling and answered the questionnaire on attachment style for pre-test and post-test. The experimental group received eight 65-minute sessions of Grant's solution-oriented therapy. Data were analyzed by multivariate covariance statistical method.

Findings: It showed that the group training based on the solution-oriented approach to the attachment styles of women with emotional divorce in the experimental group was effective (p<0.05). The findings of the current research indicated that solution-oriented therapy using techniques such as emotional control in intimate relationships, giving credit to the spouse's various experiences, identifying therapeutic potentials and encouraging autonomy, focusing on finding solutions, and identifying denied needs can be an efficient method to improve The attachment styles of women with emotional divorce should be used.

Conclusion: In this regard, it is suggested to use other intervention-based approaches to treat attachment styles in women who have experienced an emotional divorce.

Keywords: education based on solution-oriented approach, attachment styles, cold emotional relationship with spouse.

Received: 22/ February/ 2023                 Accepted: 12/ May/ 2023

Introduction:

Emotional divorce is a phase of a marital relationship in which love, affection, and affection give way to anger, discomfort, and hatred, and couples feel that positive feelings are gone forever and replaced by have given to negative feelings. This type of divorce happens gradually and quietly even without the knowledge of the couples, and as the couples move away from each other, the stability of the marriage is endangered (1). Emotional divorce is a type of divorce and a very important phenomenon that is not recorded anywhere. This type of divorce is related to families who are forced to divorce their spouses due to reasons such as family traditions or misconceptions and society's negative attitude towards divorced women, fear of loneliness, loss of children, or inability to provide for living expenses. Live under one roof and continue this life. Emotional divorce is a clear and obvious emotional distance between spouses who are both immature and not distinct in personality, although one may acknowledge the immature divorce and the other denies it (2). The last stage of relationships between couples is when they become indifferent to each other and at this stage, the presence of spouses is no longer important, but issues such as financial issues and women's social security in society form the feeling of needing a spouse. This separation is not considered a divorce in the eyes of society and the surrounding people, but in fact, it is not much different from it, and sometimes it may even have more destructive effects than an official divorce on the soul and psyche of the family members and prevent the family from reaching the important and future goals of reconciliation. (3). Marriage is the most important foundation in family formation and a turning point in the life cycle, and emotional divorce is one of the most important family and social harms. Emotional divorce is a phase of a marital relationship in which love, affection, and affection give way to anger, discomfort, and hatred, and couples feel that positive feelings are gone forever and replaced by have given to negative feelings. This type of divorce happens gradually and silently even without the knowledge of the couples, and as the couples move away from each other, the stability of the marriage is endangered (1). This separation is not considered a divorce in the eyes of society and the surrounding people, but in fact, it is not much different from it, and sometimes it may even have more destructive effects than an official divorce on the soul and psyche of the family members and prevent the family from reaching the important and future goals of reconciliation (3).

One factor that affects how couples interact and the relationship between mother and child is the model of attachment styles in people. Early attachment experiences provide information about self and primary caregivers that the child organizes as mental representations or in the form of internal active patterns (4). It is thought that attachment behaviors are a type of behavior that leads to gaining or maintaining closeness to distinct and preferred others. Attachment behaviors contribute to a person's survival by keeping him in contact with caregivers, and in this way reduce the risk of injury (5).

This approach was developed in the 1980s by the Schizro Insukimberg study at the Milwaukee Short-Term Treatment Center in Wisconsin (6). It is a postmodern approach based on the collaboration of clients and therapists and is a form of brief therapy that relies on clients' resources and ability to adapt and create solutions. The basic premise of solution-oriented therapy is that the problem or issue that leads a person to therapy is not needed to determine the direction of the discussion. Because the cause of every problem is not necessarily related to the solution, and clients themselves have resources that they will use to create change (7). According to group training based on solution-oriented therapy, participants are asked to draw a vision of the future of participating in the session and by remembering their past successes, strengths, and resources, create that vision in their daily lives. do (8) According to the material mentioned above, today researchers focus on creating techniques to increase positive communication after marriage in couples. So far in Iran, many researchers have investigated the effectiveness of the short-term solution-oriented approach in the field of couples therapy. However, no study has been found that has examined the effectiveness of this approach in an integrated and coherent manner in the field of women who have experienced an emotional divorce. Therefore, the current study seeks to answer the question, is the approach of solution-oriented group training effective on attachment styles in women with emotional divorce?

Research method:

 The statistical population of this research included couples who had an emotional divorce in Gilan province, Rasht city in the period of 1400-1401, who had referred to Rasht welfare centers for treatment, and after obtaining the necessary permits, they referred to Rasht welfare center and 30 women got divorced. Emotionally, the sampling method was available as a selection sample and was randomly divided into two groups of 15 people (15 people in the experimental group and 15 people in the control group). In this research, the emotional divorce questionnaire and attachment style tests were conducted on the two mentioned groups before the test and their scores were recorded. Then the experimental group received intervention based on the solution-oriented approach for 4 weeks and 2 sessions of 65 minutes each week. During this period, the control group did not have any intervention on them. The questionnaire was completed after the end of the attachment-style questionnaire intervention and the following month with the samples of this study. Multivariate covariance analysis was used to analyze the data in the descriptive statistics section, from the frequency report, mean, and standard deviation of the inferential statistics section. The data was analyzed using SPSS 19 software. Below are the specifications of the variable measurement tool:

Attachment style questionnaire: This questionnaire was created by Hazen and Shaver (9) and is based on the assumption that similarities between infant-caregiver attachment styles can be found in adult relationships as well. This questionnaire is a self-reporting tool adapted to adult relationships. This tool has 15 questions, wexaminemines 5 ambivalent insecure attachment questions, 5 avoidant insecure attachment questions, and 5 secure attachment questions, and after completing and scoring the subscale in which the subject gets a higher score, it is considered as the person's attachment style. Subjects answer the questions according to the Likert scale from (1 very little) to (5 very much) that is given for each question. Hazen and Shaver obtained 0.81 reliability of the entire questionnaire and 0.78 Cronbach's alpha. Hazen and Shaver reported good content and criterion validity. Also, its construct validity has been reported as very favorable. Also, the simultaneous validity check of the standardized form of this questionnaire in Iran by Rahimian Bogar (10) has shown a positive and significant relationship. In Rahimian Boger's research (10), the reliability by Cronbach's alpha for this questionnaire is 0.77, 0.81, and 0.83 respectively for secure, insecure-avoidant, and insecure ambivalent attachment styles. Also, the concurrent validity of this questionnaire with the structured interview of Mine (2000) for adult attachment is equal to 0.79 for secure style, 0.84 for insecure avoidant style, and 0.87 for ambivalent insecure style. Cronbach's alpha coefficient in the present study was obtained in the subscales of secure attachment 0.88, avoidant attachment 0.76, and anxious attachment 0.78.

Solution-oriented treatment sessions derived from Grant's solution-oriented theory (11) were conducted for the experimental group for 4 weeks and 2 sessions of 65 minutes each week with weekly assignments and regular exercises. The control group participants did not receive any intervention until the end of the study. Group training was held in the form of lectures, questions and answers, group discussions, exercises, and homework.

Table 1 - The content of solution-oriented counseling sessions (Grant, 2011)

Findings:

Among the studied women, 55% of the women had bachelors and higher education and 45% of the women had post-diploma and diploma education. Also, about 65% of women were in the age group of 25-30 years and 35% were in the age group of 30-35 years. In the following, the mean and standard deviation in two control and experimental groups have been investigated:

Table 2- The mean and standard deviation of the research variables in the two control and experimental groups

Table 2 shows the average and standard deviation of attachment styles in two control and experimental groups, to compare these averages, inferential statistics were used and the results are presented below.

In this research, multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) was used by SPSS statistical software. This assumption includes the placement of the dependent variable at least in the distance/relative level, the normality of the distribution of the dependent variable scores, the homogeneity of the variances, and the equality of the covariance matrices, which are examined at the beginning of each hypothesis. Since the type of questionnaire used in this research is of the Likert scale type, therefore, all the dependent variables are at least at the level of the interval scale.

Table 3: The results of the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test to check the normality of the distribution of the research variable scores

The Shapiro-Wilk test was used to check the normality of the scores of the dependent variables of the research. Since the values of the Shapiro-Wilk test for secure attachment were at a significant level of 0.533, avoidant attachment 0.147, and anxious attachment 0.355 and were not significant (P<0.05), it can be concluded that the distribution of scores in these variables is normal.

To check the assumption of homogeneity of variances, Lon's test was used, and the value of the F statistic for secure attachment styles was 0.399, avoidant attachment 2.22, and anxious attachment 0.884, indicating that the mentioned values are not significant (0.05). <P), so the assumption of the equality of variances in all variables is confirmed.

The purpose of examining this assumption is to test the equality of the observed covariance matrices of the variables of attachment styles among the experimental and control groups. Box M test was used to check this assumption. Based on the obtained results, the Mbox test score was 29.74; The value of F was also equal to 0.772, which was not significant (P < 0.05), therefore, the assumption of the equality of the observed covariance matrix of the variables of attachment styles among the experimental and control groups is confirmed, and the multivariate covariance test can be used.

Table 4: The results of multivariate tests to investigate the significance of the effect of group membership on research variables

Based on the results obtained from multivariate tests to investigate the significance of the effect of group membership and according to the obtained significance level, there is a significant difference between the two experimental and control groups in at least one of the dependent variables of attachment styles in the post-test stage (p < 0.01). A more detailed examination of this difference is specified in the following tables:

Table 5: Results of multivariate covariance analysis to examine the effect of solution-oriented approach on attachment styles

According to the F values for the post-test of secure attachment (17.09), avoidant attachment (11.40), and anxious attachment (21.46) and their significance level, which is less than 0.05 (P<0.05), it can be seen that Solution-oriented education has been effective on attachment styles, so the research hypothesis is confirmed.

Discussion Conclusion:

In the explanation of the present finding, it can be said that the secure attachment style is generally associated with self-disclosure, trust in the spouse, and a higher quality physical and sexual relationship. Secure adults have an assertive communication style, that is, they express their opinions, listen to their spouse's opinions, and try to work on solving their problems and solve them. They have more relationship satisfaction and show more commitment. They trust their partner and enjoy life more. Those who have an avoidant attachment style usually prefer to be alone and avoid personal relationships; because they consider trusting, closeness, and dependence dangerous and unlike the previous style, they expect others to reject or annoy them. Conflict). These feelings are associated with negative attitudes about themselves and their spouses. They see themselves as worthless and cannot trust their partner, they often do not feel intimacy with their partner. Couples who have an anxious attachment style are between the two previous styles and their main characteristic is that they are always worried about this relationship. These people's view is: "They are worried about getting close to others and establishing intimate relationships; they feel that as much as they want to have a relationship and get close, others don't want to get close and intimate with them; sometimes their strong desire to create intimate relationship alienates others from them, they are very worried about being rejected. In this research, the results showed that solution-oriented education was able to be effective on attachment styles. Solution-oriented therapists foster a sense of self-sufficiency and autonomy in clients. They do this by empowering clients to create solutions and structure these solutions. Solution-oriented therapists believe that problems persist and are made worse by the way people try to solve them. Solution-focused therapists remind people of problem-solving skills when they are needed, enabling them to break the vicious cycle of problems and develop long-term solutions (12). Identifying, determining, extracting, and strengthening exceptions by clients about problems is one of the important factors of change in solution-oriented therapy. In the solution-oriented approach, the identification of exceptions keeps the client's company in a positive direction until the end of the treatment process. As Deshazer explained, for clients, the first thing that comes to their mind is the problem itself, while for therapists, the first thing is the exceptions. In this treatment, by finding exceptions in the lives of couples, they are helped to be optimistic about the future and to successfully overcome and adapt to those unfavorable conditions even in difficult and critical situations (13). Solution-oriented therapy uses the client's reserves and abilities in the process of changing communication patterns, and this created an image of hope in the client; therefore, the solution-oriented therapist strengthens the sense of self-control and management of relationships and control of emotions in clients; they do this by empowering clients to create solutions and structure these solutions (14).

Based on the obtained results, it can be seen that solution-oriented education has been effective in communication patterns, therefore, the second hypothesis of the research is confirmed. The result of the present research is consistent with the findings (15), (16), (17), (18).

In the explanation of the present finding, it can be said that communication with others is one of the most important and at the same time the most valuable part of every person's life, and in recent years, a lot of attention has been paid to the topic of communication patterns. It seems that poor communication pattern is the background of marital conflict and communication can be used as a valid criterion to distinguish between happy and unhappy couples. By increasing the mutually constructive pattern and decreasing the expectant-withdrawal and mutual avoidance pattern, the marital satisfaction of couples increases. This means that the more constructive and non-blame-avoidant the bond is, the more satisfied the spouses, especially the women, will be. Communication patterns are those communication channels that occur abundantly in a family, and the set of these patterns forms the family communication network. When families and couples with high communication create open communication in the family, they encourage disagreements and expressions of feelings, which leads to the joy of creating open and extensive communication with others and engaging in these communications. On the other hand, families and couples who avoid or withdraw from open communication and have expectations beyond the ability of the other person, threaten the couple's life. Therefore, in this situation, couples with weak communication patterns also have different treatment methods. In the solution-oriented therapy, the women of the experimental group were helped to give a certain meaning and totality to their incomplete experiences, for this purpose, in the therapy sessions, the women of the experimental group were asked to describe their stories in a new language and for thoughts, feelings, and behavior create a new meaning for the problematic; Therefore, asking a miraculous question to the members and based on their answers, the problem and confusion in women decreased and the result that they got was that new emotions were formed along with efficient communication patterns. The control of emotions caused the women of the experimental group to be realistic, good-minded, and efficient with marital communication patterns, and to be useful and efficient wives/mothers in the development of society (19).

Solution-oriented therapy uses the client’s resources and abilities in the process of changing communication patterns, and this created an image of hope in the clients; therefore, the solution-oriented therapist strengthens the sense of self-control and management of relationships and control of emotions in clients; they do this by empowering clients behind solutions and structuring these solutions (14). Solution-oriented therapists believe that a couple’s problems persist and worsen due to the way the couple uses to solve them (20). Solution-focused therapists remind couples of problem-solving skills when needed, enabling them to break vicious cycles of problems and dysfunctional communication patterns and develop long-term solutions; in such a way that the change of one of the couples causes the change of other people in the system (21). In addition, identifying, determining, extracting, and strengthening exceptions by clients about problems is one of the important factors of change in solution-oriented therapy. In the solution-oriented approach, the identification of exceptions maintains the client's accompaniment in a positive direction until the end of the treatment process; As explained by (22), for clients, the first thing that appears to them is the problem itself, while for therapists, the first thing is exceptions; For example, the therapist asks the couple when was the last time you listened to your spouse? When is it easier for you not to argue with your spouse? What were the times you and your spouse enjoyed each other? Form questions throw exceptions, as there are always exceptions. In solution-focused therapy, couples are encouraged to do more of what they did during positive times than during negative times. Exceptions can be recognized and extracted even from couples' discussions (8). Couples who have difficulty recognizing current exceptions are asked to recall what they did in the past that contributed to their marital satisfaction and then re-establish the same behaviors and activities they once did (14). Miracle questions are also one of the intervention questions of solution-oriented therapists. The miracle question is used to guide clients to describe current salient issues and to envision a problem-free future. Miracle questions help clients extract the ingredients they need to be different. The miraculous question helps the clients to discover new issues and to be able to cognitively describe the behavioral differences in themselves and their spouses. ? How do you know when your problem is solved? Using such questions helps clients to find a different way of looking at their issues and can be an important step in the process of change. They report negativity towards the opposite party. Many of them have a feeling of emotional failure and their efforts to restore intimacy have met with failure they communicate with limited methods such as avoidance and withdrawal, blame and criticism, defensiveness, and defensive cycles (14).

Based on the obtained results, it can be seen that solution-oriented education has been effective in family cohesion, therefore, the third hypothesis of the research is confirmed. The result of the present research is consistent with the findings of (23), (24), (25), (26), (27), (28), (29).

In the explanation of the present finding, it can be said that there are big and small factors in the family that cause stability and resistance to problems and make the members stand together and fight their problems. The solidarity and connection between family members, which is the factor of unity and unity of its members, is one of the strongest factors in creating satisfaction and compatibility in the family. Family cohesion refers to the feeling of solidarity and connection, connection and emotional commitment of family members to each other. The lack of cohesion between couples can lead to the loss of emotional connection between them. Therefore, in this treatment, using the miraculous questioning technique, people are asked to imagine their life while their problem is solved and say what happened. This technique allows people to increase their ability to solve their problems. Dishaz believes that a small change leads to a big change, so encouraging clients to be active in therapy sessions and using the homework technique leads to noticeable changes in their behavior and ultimately leads to changes in beliefs and increasing family cohesion. Instead of emphasizing the cause of the problem, the solution-oriented therapist emphasizes solving the problem. Therefore, by relying on the positive thinking technique, exception questions, comparison questions, and praising the spirit of change and fertility are created in people. These techniques are short-term, so they achieve results more quickly. By making small changes, people hopefully continue to strive for positive and lasting change. They discover their positive points and use them to reach their ultimate goals.

In these meetings, they are asked to name their five positive points and the situations in which they feel weak and unable to communicate effectively. Then, using the technique of indirect praise, "Wow, how you could handle this", increases the client's ability to rely on himself. Solution-oriented therapists rely on the application of techniques, indirect praise increases self-confidence, self-reflection, self-exploration, creativity, and the ability to discover solutions in clients (30).

Emotional divorce is a symbol of the problem of a healthy relationship between husband and wife. In other words, the emotional relationships between couples in which there is often a certain passion at the beginning of life, but after some time due to the ignorance and negligence of one or both parties, these feelings subside and the situation gradually worsens, affecting the joint life. It is cold. These communication problems at a smaller level (family) can enter and expand to a wider dimension (society) and disrupt and cause problems in human communication, and when the foundation of the family institution is shaken, the moral and social foundations of the entire social system are shaken. And society is pushed towards various problems. Meanwhile, solution-oriented therapy is one of the most common approaches in today's era, whose main characteristic is emphasizing a non-pathological approach to people, limited treatment sessions, practical nature, and ease of learning its techniques.

In this model of treatment, instead of focusing and insisting on the past, the present, and even the available future, instead of paying attention to the weaknesses and shortcomings of the clients, their abilities are considered. Therefore, based on the obtained results, it can be concluded that the solution-oriented group education approach has been effective in attachment styles, communication styles, and family cohesion in women who have a cold emotional relationship with their husbands.

Also, there were some limitations in the research process, such as several meetings were conducted in absentia due to the spread of the coronavirus through the phone and virtual space using existing software for audio and video sharing, and the research was based on a quantitative approach. It is suggested that future researchers study this subject based on a mixed approach, and another limitation of data collection based on self-reporting scales is that these reports are prone to distortion due to personal introduction methods.

To remove the limitations of the research, it is suggested that considering that cold emotional relationships and emotional divorce are on the rise in Iranian society and have created many difficulties for families, especially women, it is suggested that therapists in this field pay more attention to treatments that have individual and group counseling and identify attitudes, disorders and personal problems that can lead to emotional divorce in married life in pre-marriage counseling and seek treatment for it and considering the effectiveness of solution-oriented treatment increase so that groups with family problems can feel the process of changes in their lives tangibly. Also, in the current research during the implementation, we realized that this number of sessions is suitable for the implementation of this method, so the researchers should do the appropriate design regarding the effect of the number of sessions on such problems.

Limitations of the research

1- The limitation of the measurement tool: only the questionnaire and the information obtained is based on the self-reporting of the patients and no other methods were used to validate the data.

2- Mental and psychological conditions, and family problems in the sample group people when answering the questions that can affect the results of the research.

3- Accuracy and honesty of the sample group people in answering the questions.

4- Limitations in the ability and control of all effective variables in the research situation.

5- Also, there were some limitations in the process of conducting the research, including several meetings were conducted in absentia through the phone and virtual space using existing software for sharing audio and video due to the spread of the coronavirus, as well as conducting the research based on It was a quantitative approach and it is suggested that future researchers study this issue based on a combined approach and another limitation is that data collection was done based on a self-reporting scale that these reports are prone to distortion due to personal introduction methods.

6- To remove the limitations of the research, it is suggested that considering that cold emotional relationships and emotional divorce are increasing in Iranian society and have created many difficulties for families, especially women, it is suggested that therapists in In this area, should pay more attention to individual and group treatments, and in pre-marriage counseling, they should identify attitudes, disorders, and personal problems that can lead to emotional divorce in married life, and go towards its treatment, and according to the effectiveness of the treatment It is proposed to increase the number of treatment sessions so that groups with family problems can feel the process of changes in their lives concretely. Also, in the current research during implementation, we realized that this number of sessions is suitable for implementing this method, so the researchers should do the appropriate design regarding the effect of the number of sessions on such problems.

Ethical considerations

In this research, the researcher considers himself obliged to comply with the following ethical principles:

1- Reassurance to the beneficiary centers to be aware of the results of the research

2- Explaining the objectives of the research to the research subjects to obtain informed consent

3- Voluntary and optional participation in the research, without naming the research subjects in the questionnaire and keeping the research results confidential

4- Reassuring the subjects of the research to present the results in general and not case by case

The effectiveness of solution-oriented group training approach with attachment styles of women with emotional divorce.

Application of research

Considering the new group education in Iran and also considering that women who have experienced emotional divorce compared to other ordinary people in health care, therefore, the application of this study is to determine and measure the solution-oriented group education approach with the attachment styles of women who have experienced an emotional divorce.

Conflict of interest

The author(s) of the article declares that about the publication of the presented article, they have completely avoided publishing ethics, including plagiarism, misconduct, falsification of data, double submission and publication, and commercial interests. In this regard, it does not exist and the authors have not received any money for presenting their work.

References: