Comparison of Emotion-Focused Extramarital Therapy and Cognitive-Behavioral Couple Therapy on Meta-Emotion and Meaning in Life among Women Affected by Infidelity
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Objective: To evaluate and compare the effects of Emotion-Focused Couple Therapy (EFT) and Cognitive-Behavioral Couple Therapy (CBCT) on meta-emotion (positive/negative) and meaning in life among women affected by marital infidelity, and to examine the stability of outcomes over two months.
Methods and Materials: In a three-arm semi-experimental design with repeated measures, 45 women seeking services at counseling centers in Isfahan (2024) were recruited via purposive sampling and randomly allocated to EFT (n≈15), CBCT (n≈15), or a wait-list control (n≈15). Interventions comprised nine weekly 90-minute sessions. Outcomes were assessed at baseline, post-treatment, and two-month follow-up using the Meta-Emotion Scale (Mitmansgruber et al., 2009) and the Meaning in Life Questionnaire (Steger, 2010). Data were analyzed with repeated-measures ANOVA and Bonferroni-adjusted post hoc tests (α=0.05).
Findings: A significant time × group interaction was observed for meta-emotion and meaning in life, indicating differential change across groups (p < .001). Relative to the wait-list, both EFT and CBCT produced clinically and statistically significant gains: increases in positive meta-emotion, decreases in negative meta-emotion, and improvements in meaning in life (all comparisons were significant versus the control). Between the two active treatments, EFT showed an advantage over CBCT in enhancing positive meta-emotion. In contrast, the treatments did not differ significantly in terms of negative meta-emotion or meaning in life. Improvements observed at post-treatment were maintained at the two-month follow-up.
Conclusion: EFT and CBCT are effective, maintainable interventions for women affected by marital infidelity. EFT may offer a relative advantage for strengthening positive meta-emotion. Findings support the integration of these approaches into family and couple-therapy services and underscore the value of longer follow-ups and effect-size reporting in future trials.
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