Pages: 19-29

Abstract

Introduction: dimensions of marital satisfaction are influenced by pregnancy and poor ‎marital relationship is the most stable predictor for pregnancy concern. Given the ‎effects of concern on maternal and fetal health during this critical period, the present ‎study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of mindfulness-based cognitive ‎therapy on marital satisfaction and pregnancy concern in nulliparous women.‎ Methodology: This two-group clinical trial study was conducted on pregnant women ‎referring to medical centers of Yazd in 2018. ‏Thirty nulliparous women (20-30 weeks) ‎eligible for the study were randomly divided into control and test groups. Mindfulness-‎based cognitive therapy counseling was performed for eight test sessions, 2 hours ‎weekly. Data were collected using demographic questionnaire, Enrich marital ‎satisfaction questionnaire and pregnancy concern questionnaires in three stages of ‎before, immediately and one month after the intervention in both groups. Descriptive ‎statistics and parametric tests were used for data analysis by SPSS 16 software. ‎Significance level was considered P <0.05‎‏.‏ Results: The results revealed that the mean score of pregnancy concern in the two ‎groups after the intervention and follow up was significantly lower than that of the ‎control group (p = 0.009). Mean scores of marital satisfaction in the two stages after ‎intervention and follow up were significantly higher than the control group (p<0.001).‎ Conclusion: Based on the research results and the positive effect of mindfulness-based ‎cognitive therapy counseling on increasing marital satisfaction and decreasing ‎pregnancy concern, it is recommended to use this effective and useful method in health ‎centers especially in labor preparation classes to improve the mental health of mothers.