THE EFFECTIVENESS OF AN INTIMATE RELATIONSHIP SKILLS TRAINING (PAIRS) ON INCREASING MARITAL ADJUSTMENT AND SATISFACTION IN WOMEN WITH CANCER

Cancer is one of the most serious chronic diseases and risk factors of public
health. Of those, breast cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed in women. Today, some
researchers in the field of clinical psychology by implementing psychosocial interventions, are
following to study its effect on the patients with breast cancer and their quality of life. This study aimed
to evaluate the effectiveness of an intimate relationship skills training on increasing adjustment and
marital satisfaction in women with breast cancer was conducted.
Material & Methods: A total of 24 women with breast cancer of the patients reffered to the center of
Radiation Oncology of Imam Reza (AS) in Mashhad by available sampling method selected and
randomly divided into two groups of 12 subjects were assigned to intervention and control. Subjects in
both pre-test and post-test were measured by Enrich marital satisfaction and marital adjustment
Harmvhan Singh questionnaires. The experiment group received 8 sessions of 1.5 hours of the intimate
relationship skills training and the control group received no intervention. Data using SPSS software
and with univariate analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) were analyzed.
Results: The intervention group than the control group showed a significant increase in the marital
adjustment and satisfaction.
Conclusion: intimate relationship skills training (PAIRS) can be effective in increasing marital
adjustment and satisfaction.