Efficacy of Behavioural Couple Therapy and Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy on Marital Adjustment of Spouses in Baptist Churches in Benin Metropolis, Nigeria

Abstract

This study investigated the efficacy of Behavioural Couple Therapy and Emotionally
Focused Couple Therapy in managing marital adjustment among Baptist spouses in
Benin Metropolis of Edo State. A research question was raised for this study and a
hypothesis formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance. The study adopted the true
experimental research design, using a non-equivalent pre-test post-test control group.
The target population of the study consisted of all the 3290 Baptist spouses in Benin
metropolis. A sample size of 97 spouses participated in the study. A multistage sampling
method was used in selecting the sample for this study. The marital Adjustment Scale
was administered to the spouses. The validity of the instrument was established by three
test experts from the Department of Educational Evaluation and Counseling Psychology
(EECP). An internal consistency reliability of the instrument was done using cronbach
alpha statistics and a reliability coefficient of 0.90 was obtained. The data collected were
analyzed using Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA), and Least Significant Difference (LSD)
Post-hoc Multiple. The findings of the study revealed that both treatments (BCT and
EFCT) were effective in managing the marital adjustment of spouses but EFCT shows to
be more effective. The study also showed that there was a significant difference in the
marital adjustment of spouses exposed to BCT, EFCT, and control at post-test. Based on
the findings, it was recommended that counselling psychologists should take advantage
of the proven efficacy of Behavioural Couple Therapy and Emotionally Focused Couple
Therapy in helping spouses to improve the quality of their marital relationship.

Keywords: Comparison, Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy, Behavioural Couple
Therapy, Marital Adjustments, Spouses