A qualitative meta-analysis exploring client-reported outcomes of couple therapy.

Summary & key facts

Researchers collected what people said in 15 different studies about couple therapy. They pulled the clients' reports into one data set and looked for common themes. They found 25 outcome types that fit into seven main groups, such as seeing things differently, better communication, improved relationship and individual functioning, and some difficult outcomes like clearer decisions to separate. The study shows the kinds of benefits and harms clients say they experience, but it does not measure how often these outcomes happen or prove that therapy caused them.

Key facts:

• The researchers combined client-reported results from 15 studies where people talked about their experiences in couple therapy.
• They identified 25 specific kinds of outcomes that clients described after therapy.
• Those 25 outcomes were grouped into seven main clusters: seeing things differently; changed behavior within the relationship; improved experience in the relationship; improved communication quality; improvement in relationship functioning; improved individual functioning; and difficult outcomes of therapy.
• Clients commonly reported positive changes such as a new understanding of how the couple interacts, better ways to manage conflict, new ways of relating and connecting, and letting go of expectations placed on a partner.
• Clients also reported improvements in communication and in how the relationship works day to day, plus personal changes that affected their role in the relationship.
• Some clients reported difficult outcomes, including that therapy helped them decide more clearly to separate from their partner.
• Because this analysis summarizes people’s own reports, it shows what clients felt changed. It does not say how many couples would have each outcome or prove that therapy caused the changes.

Abstract

The quantitative reviews of the outcome research on couple therapy show that this type of therapy can produce positive outcomes for couples and improve relationship satisfaction. There is now also a number of qualitative studies in which clients report in their own words on the outcomes of couple therapy. This study aimed to meta-analyze the client-reported outcomes of couple therapy generated in the studies using qualitative methods. A sample of 15 primary studies examining clients' reported outcomes of couple therapy was identified through an extensive literature search. Relevant qualitative data on the client-reported outcomes were extracted into a single data set. The data was then analyzed using a descriptive-interpretive qualitative meta-analytic approach. Similar outcomes were grouped into metacategories. The metacategories were then organized into several clusters of the client-reported outcomes of couple therapy. The meta-analysis yielded 25 metacategories which were clustered into seven main clusters, (a) seeing things differently; (b) changed behavior within the relationship; (c) improved experience in the relationship; (d) improved communication quality; (e) improvement in relationship functioning; (f) improved individual functioning, and (g) difficult outcomes of therapy. Clients reported numerous constructive (e.g., new understanding of the couple's interactional functioning, improvement in the conflict management, new positive ways of relating and connecting, letting go of expectations imposed on the partner or changes within the self that may be one's contribution to the relationship), and some difficult, outcomes of engaging in couple therapy (the clarity on the decision to separate). (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Topics

Attachment and Relationship Dynamics

Categories

Psychology Social Psychology Social Sciences

Tags

Biochemistry Chemistry CLARITY Clinical psychology Computer science Constructive Internal medicine Law Machine learning Mathematical economics Mathematics Medicine MEDLINE Meta-analysis Operating system Outcome (game theory) Political science Process (computing) Programming language Psychology Psychotherapist PsycINFO Qualitative property Qualitative research Set (abstract data type) Social psychology Social science Sociology

Conditions & symptoms

Feeling disconnected from others