Abstract:
The level of marital distress in Ghana has become an issue of concern to
stakeholders as distressed couples are resorting to separation or divorce. The
purpose of this study was therefore to ascertain whether using Integrative
Behavioural Couples Therapy (CBT) and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (IBCT)
as intervention strategies could reduce marital distress of Christians in the Cape
Coast Metropolis of Ghana. The study was carried out using the pre-test, post-test,
control group design, a type of quasi-experimental research. The researcher
selected 60 respondents who were severely distressed out of 215 married couples
using a compendium of instruments on Conceptualising and Measuring “Healthy
Marriages” for Empirical Research and Evaluation Studies (Task One Part II),
developed by Carreno, Cleveland, Bronte-Tinkew and Moore (2003). Participants
were put into three groups of 20 each, two for the treatment groups (CBT and EBCT)
and the third one for the control group. A purposive sampling technique was used
to select married couples while simple random sampling procedure was used to
place the respondents into the three groups. Data was analyesd using descriptive
and inferential statistics. The study revealed that IBCT and CBT therapies were
found to be effective in reducing marital distress in the Cape Coast Metropolis.
Also, it was found out that the level of marital distress of participants reduced
further with Integrative Behavioural Couples Therapy (IBCT) as compared to using
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). The study recommended that marriage
counsellors should resort to the use of Integrative Behavioural Couples Therapy
(IBCT) and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) in assisting married couples out
of marital distress and other challenges confronting married couples. The Ghana
Psychological Association, the Ghana Psychological Council, the Counsellors
Association of Ghana and the Christian Council of Ghana should intensify the use
of Integrative Behavioural Couples Therapy (IBCT) and Cognitive Behavioural
Therapy (CBT) in assisting clients out of challenges.
