The effectiveness of transactional analysis group therapy on relationship belief and couples burnout in married male students

Introduction: The studies showed that one of the factors which diminishes love gradually between couples - sometimes completely obliterates, and provides causes of mental and psychological problems, cold and indifferent relationships resulting ultimately in ending relationships-is couple burnout. Couple burnout is associated closely with people’s relationship beliefs that reveal the need for early interventions. This study aimed to examine the effectiveness of transactional analysis group therapy on relationship belief and couples burnout in married male students.
Materials and Methods: This study was a clinical trial with pretest-posttest design. For this purpose, using available sampling method, 24 students who referred to  university counseling office from October to June  2015 – 2016 were selected voluntarily among married male students of  humanities in  Islamic Azad university, Quchan branch. They were then assigned to an experimental and a control group. Epstein and Eidelson's Relationship Belief Inventory (RBI), and couple burnout measure were taken from both groups as pre-test. The control group then participated in ten sessions of group therapy workshop based on transactional analysis. Two weeks after completing the sessions, they were evaluated again using the same questionnaires.
Results:The findings showed that transactional analysis group therapy was effective on subscales of beliefs; disagreement is destructive (P=0.04), spouse's lack of adjustability (P=0.04), sexual perfectionism (P=0.04) and irrational relationship beliefs (P=0.04). No significant effect was seen on subscales of belief in gender differences (P=0.48) and mind reading expectation (P=0.65). Furthermore, transactional analysis group therapy on marital burnout (P=0.02) appeared to be effective.  
Conclusion: The results revealed that transactional analysis group therapy was effective on relationship beliefs and couples burnout in married male students.