Abstract
Background: Marital life is an important social institution that greatly influences the health and well-being of individuals and the entire society. Inherently, marriage is a complex phenomenon that the risks for marital instability are ubiquitous including social upheavals, stay home order due to Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID 19). Several studies have been proposed different interventions to optimize the quality of marital life. However, problems related to marital conflict are getting worse and there are uncertainties about the effectiveness of the interventions. Thus, the current systematic review was aimed at examining the effectiveness of interventions in reducing a variety of aspects of marital conflict among the cohort of married couples.Methods: Randomized controlled trial (RCT) and Qazi experimental studies describing the effectiveness of marital couple interventions published over the last 10 years were retrieved from six electronic databases using different search terms, Medical subject heading (MeSH) terms “Marital therapy”, “Couple therapy”, or “Marital couple therapy” included in this study. The risk of bias in individual studies assessed based on the Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool. The effectiveness of the interventions was examined by comparing the intervention group with those who did not receive the intervention. Results: A total of 14, 536 records are searched from 6 databases, and eleven of these studies are included in the final systematic review and meta-analysis. Overall, the included studies were identified to have a low risk of bias and a substantial level of heterogeneity (I2 =96%). The meta-analysis confirmed that marital couple’s interventions significantly improved marital conflict among distressed couples (Pooled effect size, -1.71, [-2.93, -0.49])Conclusions: This finding indicated that marital couples’ interventions effectively reduce marital conflict among a cohort of married couples. Thus, marital counselors and educators are strongly suggested to compile and use the interventions outline in this study. Funding: There is no source of funding, that, the authors have no competing interests to declare. Systematic review registration: This study is registered as PROSPERO: CRD42020218280
Effectiveness of Marital Couple Interventions on Marital Conflict: a Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Experimental Studies