The effectiveness of solution-focused brief couple therapy on forgiveness and sexual intimacy of women affected by marital infidelity

Background: Considering the value and status of the family institution, special attention should be paid to the problems of women affected by marital infidelity.The present study was conducted with the aim of determining the effectiveness of solution-focused brief couple therapy (SFBCT) on forgiveness and sexual intimacy of women affected by marital infidelity.Materials and methods: This study was semi-experimental with a pretest-posttest & follow-up control group design.The statistical population consisted of women affected by marital infidelity in Tabriz City in 2023.In total, 30 people were selected by the purposeful sampling method and randomly divided into two groups (15 people in each group).Members of experimental group received their treatment in 6 sessions of 1.5 hours; however, the control group did not receive any treatment.The measurement tools were Rye et al's forgiveness and Bagaroozi's sexual intimacy questionnaires.Data analysis were done by repeated measures analysis of variance test.Results: SFBCT increased forgiveness and sexual intimacy of women affected by marital infidelity in the post-test, compared to the control group (P<0.001).The effect of SFBCT on forgiveness and sexual intimacy was lasting in the follow-up phase (P<0.001). Conclusion:It seems that solution-focused brief couple therapy can increase the forgiveness and sexual intimacy of women affected by marital infidelity; so it can probably be a useful therapeutic strategy to improve the marital relationship of women affected by marital infidelity.