SATISFACTION WITH QUALITY OF EDUCATIONAL AND COUNSELLING PROGRAM AMONG COUPLES IN URMIA

Premarital education and counselling programs are considered as an important
factor to promote the quality of married life. This study was performed to determine satisfaction of
premarital couples about the quality of the premarital education and counselling program provided by
Urmia health centers.
Materials & Methods: This descriptive analytical cross sectional study was performed on 50 couples
referring to health centers in Urmia during 3 months. The data gathering tool was a questionnaire
containing 2 parts. The first part included demographic questions and the second part included 22
questions related to dimensions of satisfaction of quality containing tangibility, reliability,
responsiveness, assurance, and empathy. The data were analysed by the path analysis method by Mplus-
5 software.
Result: Mean age of marriage for men was 26.48+4.55 and 21.91+5.29 for women. The results indicated
that education level (β2 = -0.292), location (β2 = -0.075), and sex (β2 = -0.106) had indirectly a negative
effect on the satisfaction of couples. It also showed that responsiveness (β1 = 0.404), assurance
(β1=0.316), reliability (β1= 0.312), and tangibility (β1=0.0207) had a direct and positive effect on the
satisfaction of pre -marriage couples about the quality of premarital education and counselling program
respectively.
Conclusion: According to the results, couple’s viewpoints should be considered in designing the
premarital program. It is also recommended that all dimensions of quality of the premarital counseling
and training program particularly empathy dimension should be identified and improved