The Effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) on Reducing Couple Burnout of Couples

Introduction: Acceptance and commitment therapy is one of the third generations of behavioral therapy and instead of trying to change cognitions, person's Psychological relationship with him thoughts and feelings to rise. The aim of this study was to determine the efficacy of treatment based on acceptance and commitment (ACT) to reduce the couple burnout of married couples. Method: In the form of a quasi-experimental intervention in the form of pre-posttest control group, 20 couples among couples with marital problems that referred to Rastin counseling and psychological services in the spring of 2015 choice with sampling method and were divided into control and experimental groups randomly (each 10 couples). The study’s instrument was Paynz Couple Burnout 1996. The experiment group received therapeutic intervention based on acceptance and commitment therapy for at least twelve weeks of group therapy but for control group treatment was provided. After completed treatment sessions post-test was done from both groups. Data were analyzed by T-difference. Results: Between pre-test (93.60) and post-test scores (78.10) in the experimental group compared with the control group was significantly different (T= -8.32, P<0.01). In other words, intervention based on acceptance and commitment was effective in reducing couple burnout in experiment group. Conclusion: The results show that acceptance and commitment therapy to reduce the couple burnout was effectiveness in married couples. It is recommended that this treatment counselors and family therapists in counseling centers and family education classes in order to solve their marital problems and boost productivity.