The purpose of this study is to develop a couple cognitive behavioral therapy program to improve relationship of multicultural couples and verify its effect. For this purpose, firstly, the study conducted in-depth interviews with multicultural couples...
The purpose of this study is to develop a couple cognitive behavioral therapy program to improve relationship of multicultural couples and verify its effect. For this purpose, firstly, the study conducted in-depth interviews with multicultural couples and developed a program based on the interview results. After testing a preliminary program for the selected couples who had conflicts, the study made a revision and constructed a final program. Secondly, after conducting the program for multicultural couples, the study examined the changes made in their cognitive characteristics(negative automatic thoughts, traditional gender-role attitudes and marital satisfaction), emotional characteristics (anger and intimacy) and behavioral characteristics (dysfunctional communication and conflict-resolution skills). Thirdly, 3 months after offering the program, the study tried to find out if there were any changes made in the couples’ cognitive characteristics, emotional characteristics and behavioral characteristics. Fourthly, changes in the couples’ cognitive characteristics, emotional characteristics and behavioral characteristics were examined in the process of receiving the therapy. 14 multicultural couples were selected based on wife’s Korean language level and availability of both spouses’ participation. Then the selected 14 couples were randomly divided into a control group of 7 couples and a experimental group of 7 couples. Including a pretest and posttest, the experimental group was offered a 100-minute cognitive behavioral session twice a week for 6 weeks.
Collected data were analyzed through the SPSS 20.0 statistical program. Analyzing methods of the study are as follows. First, to confirm the homogeneity of all the subjects’ pretest score by each scale (cognitive characteristics, emotional characteristics, behavioral characteristics, and other scales) Mann-Whitney test, a nonparametric test, was conducted. Second, to investigate the difference between pretest and posttest scores(cognitive characteristics, emotional characteristics, behavioral characteristics, and other scales) of the control group and experimental group, Wilcoxon singed-rank test, a nonparametric test, was conducted. Third, to compare the posttest scores between the control group and experimental group, Mann-Whitney test, a nonparametric test, was conducted. Fourth, to compare the pretest score and follow-up test score of the experimental group, Mann-Whitney test, a nonparametric test, was conducted. Fifth, to improve the reliability of the verified test results from the quantitative analysis and examine the changes made in the multicultural couples’ thoughts, beliefs, intimacy and relational enhancement(communication and conflict-resolution methods) during the program, content analysis was carried out based on worksheets, feedbacks on assignments, observation s of assistant researchers and extracts from recorded contents.
The main results of this study are as follows. First, as the result of comparing pretest and posttest assessment for the CBT group, a significant change was found in negative automatic thoughts, traditional gender-role attitudes and marital satisfaction (of cognitive characteristics). After receiving the program, scores in negative automatic thoughts and traditional gender-role attitudes were reduced, while scores in marital satisfaction increased. Also, a significant difference was marked between the experimental group and control group. Second, after conducting the program for the experimental group, scores in anger(of emotional characteristics) were reduced, while scores in intimacy(of emotional characteristics) increased. Third, after conducting the program, scores in dysfunctional communication(of behavioral characteristics) and its subscales including criticism, apathy, defense and contempt were reduced while scores in conflict-resolution skills increased significantly. Again, a significant difference was marked between the experimental group and control group. Fourth, as a result of assessing the 3-month follow-up test to verify the effectiveness of this program, scores in traditional gender-role attitudes and negative automatic thought(of cognitive characteristics) were found to be significantly reduced while scores in marital satisfaction significantly increased. Fifth, as a result of analyzing the changes made in cognitive, emotional and behavioral characteristics of the experimental group while receiving CBT, it was found that each couple’s relationship was improved by finding and changing maladaptive thoughts and beliefs into adaptive ones and changing the dysfunctional interaction patterns between emotion and behavior into reasonable and positive perspectives.
The significance of this study is as follows. First, unlike previous researches focused on communication to improve relationship of multicultural couples, the study conducted cognitive behavioral therapy with various scales of cognitive, emotional and behavioral characteristics, proved its effectiveness using quantitative and qualitative analysis and compared the results of CBT group to those of control group. Second, selected subjects were multicultural couples and by developing and offering a 10-session program for both husband and wife, the study remedied the shortcoming of previous researches targeting only one-side spouse, either a husband or wife. Third, the study developed a program after conducting in-depth interviews with multicultural couples and investigating their cognitive, emotional and behavioral characteristics. Fourth, by conducting a 3-month follow-up test, the study tried to verify whether the program’s effectiveness was maintained. Fifth, unlike previous researches, a married-male leader co-proceeded the program to increase the participation of husbands. Sixth, whereas participation of husbands was limited by factors such as time and environment in the previous researches, the result of this program is meaningful in the fact that husbands attended all the sessions of the program. Seventh, the program was proven effective as specific and positive changes were made in cognitive, emotional and behavioral characteristics of the multicultural couples who received cognitive behavioral therapy.
Key words: multicultural couple, couple cognitive behavioral therapy, negative automatic thought, traditional gender-role attitudes, marital satisfaction, anger, intimacy, dysfunctional communication, conflict-resolution skills training
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