Imam Hussein University The Women and Families Cultural-Educational 2645-4955 18 64 2023 09 23 Effectiveness of Integrative Couple Therapy Via Diamond Method on Marital Empathy and Emotional Intimacy of Couples in the Early Years after the Birth of the First Child Effectiveness of Integrative Couple Therapy Via Diamond Method on Marital Empathy and Emotional Intimacy of Couples in the Early Years after the Birth of the First Child 208387 FA Jamshid Shojaei Ahvaz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Ahvaz, Iran Amin Koraei Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Educational Sciences and Psychology, Shahid Madani University of Azerbaijan, Tabriz, Iran. 0000-0002-0949-7135 Zabihollah Abbaspour استادیار گروه مشاوره، دانشگاه شهید چمران اهواز، اهواز، ایران Assistant Professor, Department of counseling, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Ahvaz, Iran 0000-0001-7387-1630 Journal Article 2022 10 20 The transition to parenthood is often accompanied by much excitement and joy, but this stage involves many changes that can affect individual and couple functions. On the one hand, the birth of a child represents the fulfillment of a parent's dream; and on the other hand, it means experiencing difficult and annoying moments as a result of endless care and learning demands and necessary reorganizations as an individual, spouse, family member, and professional. Therefore, the present study was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of integrative couple therapy via Diamond method on marital empathy and emotional intimacy of in the early years after the birth of the first child. The research method was a semi-experimental design with a pre-test, post-test and follow-up test with a control group. The statistical population of the study included couples couples in the early years after the birth of the first child who visited counseling centers in Behbehan in 2020. From this statistical population, using available sampling method, 20 couples were selected based on the cut point of the Kansas marital satisfaction scale (Shum et al., 1986) and randomly divided into the experiment (10 couples) and the control (10 couples) groups. A pre-test was used to determine the state of marital empathy and emotional intimacy of couples in both groups. Then, the experimental group received integrated couple therapy via Diamond method during 6 sessions of 90 minutes. A month and a half after the completion of the treatment, a follow-up test was performed in both groups. The data collection tool included the marital empathy questionnaire (Joliff and Farrington, 2006) and intimacy personal assessment questionnaire (Shafer and Elson, 1981). Data were analyzed using mixed model analysis of variance and the Benferoni post hoc test. Findings revealed a significant increase in the post-test and follow-up scores of the experimental group regarding marital empathy and emotional intimacy, which was significant considering p The transition to parenthood is often accompanied by much excitement and joy, but this stage involves many changes that can affect individual and couple functions. On the one hand, the birth of a child represents the fulfillment of a parent's dream; and on the other hand, it means experiencing difficult and annoying moments as a result of endless care and learning demands and necessary reorganizations as an individual, spouse, family member, and professional. Therefore, the present study was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of integrative couple therapy via Diamond method on marital empathy and emotional intimacy of in the early years after the birth of the first child. The research method was a semi-experimental design with a pre-test, post-test and follow-up test with a control group. The statistical population of the study included couples couples in the early years after the birth of the first child who visited counseling centers in Behbehan in 2020. From this statistical population, using available sampling method, 20 couples were selected based on the cut point of the Kansas marital satisfaction scale (Shum et al., 1986) and randomly divided into the experiment (10 couples) and the control (10 couples) groups. A pre-test was used to determine the state of marital empathy and emotional intimacy of couples in both groups. Then, the experimental group received integrated couple therapy via Diamond method during 6 sessions of 90 minutes. A month and a half after the completion of the treatment, a follow-up test was performed in both groups. The data collection tool included the marital empathy questionnaire (Joliff and Farrington, 2006) and intimacy personal assessment questionnaire (Shafer and Elson, 1981). Data were analyzed using mixed model analysis of variance and the Benferoni post hoc test. Findings revealed a significant increase in the post-test and follow-up scores of the experimental group regarding marital empathy and emotional intimacy, which was significant considering p https://cwfs.ihu.ac.ir/article_208387_776cf8ef2417606f99e532fc86f52343.pdf