Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2023 Apr;49(2):351-369.
doi: 10.1111/jmft.12625. Epub 2022 Dec 21.

Couple therapy with parents: Results from a pragmatic randomized controlled trial testing the Integrative Brief Systemic Intervention (IBSI)

Joëlle Darwiche  1 , Jean-Philippe Antonietti  1 , Cindy Eira Nunes  2 , Nicolas Favez  3 , Esther Liekmeier  1 , Yves de Roten  4
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Couple therapy with parents: Results from a pragmatic randomized controlled trial testing the Integrative Brief Systemic Intervention (IBSI)

Joëlle Darwiche et al. J Marital Fam Ther. 2023 Apr.

Abstract

This study aimed to compare the effectiveness of the Integrative Brief Systemic Intervention (IBSI), combining therapeutic work on marital and coparenting relationships with brief systemic therapy (BST-as-usual) for parent couples. Couples were randomly assigned to the IBSI (n = 51) or BST (n = 50). Both treatments were six-session interventions and lasted about 6 months. Questionnaires on individual, marital, coparenting and family-related functioning were completed before and after therapy, and at 6-month follow-up. A significant improvement in all areas of functioning was observed after treatment and maintained at follow-up for both IBSI and BST-as-usual treatments. No significant differences in outcomes were found between the treatments. Additionally, women reported more distress overall than men, and this distress was reduced more significantly after therapy. Last, BST-as-usual couples requested more additional sessions compared to IBSI couples. This study extends the literature on couple therapy with parents.

Keywords: coparenting; couple therapy; marital; randomized controlled trial.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

REFERENCES

    1. Abidin, R. R., & Konold, T. R. (1999). Parenting alliance measure: Professional manual. Psychological Assessment Resources.
    1. Bates, D., Mächler, M., Bolker, B., & Walker, S. (2015). Fitting linear mixed-effects models using lme4. Journal of Statistical Software, 67(1), 1-48. https://doi.org/10.18637/jss.v067.i01
    1. Bodenmann, G. (2008). Dyadisches coping inventar: Test manual [Dyadic Coping Inventory: Test manual]. Huber.
    1. Bonds, D. D., & Gondoli, D. M. (2007). Examining the process by which marital adjustment affects maternal warmth: The role of coparenting support as a mediator. Journal of Family Psychology, 21(2), 288-296. https://doi.org/10.1037/0893-3200.21.2.288
    1. Bray, J. H., Williamson, D. S., & Malone, P. E. (1984). Personal authority in the family system: Development of a questionnaire to measure personal authority in intergenerational family processes. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 10(2), 167-178. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1752-0606.1984.tb00007.x

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources