Kathrin Widmer

Prevention of marital distress by enhancing the coping skills of couples: 1-year follow-up-study

This article presents a new preventive approach (Couples Coping Enhancement Training: CCET) aimed at expanding upon the scope of current prevention programs by focussing on stress issues and individual and dyadic coping skills. The cognitive behavioral prevention program is based on stress and coping research in couples and seeks to improve important skills with an 18-hour course. The effectiveness of the approach is examined with respect to 143 couples over a period of one year. The results show that couples participating in the program benefit in terms of a significant increase in marital quality and that intervention couples appraise their relationship even after one year as substantially improved in a number of domains (quality of marital communication, intimacy etc.). Our results support the importance of prevention for couples with low marital satisfaction even if they have been living together for many years.

Improving Dyadic Coping in Couples With a Stress-Oriented Approach A 2-Year Longitudinal Study

This study sought to assess the effectiveness of a marital distress prevention program for couples by examining how marital quality, especially marital competencies such as dyadic coping, could be improved by means of a prevention program focusing on the enhancement of coping resources (Couples Coping Enhancement Training). The study consisted of 59 couples in the intervention group and 59 couples in the matched comparison group. The results reveal that it is possible to improve marital quality, especially marital competencies, by means of one short-term intervention lasting 18 hr. However, the effects decreased after 2 years, raising the importance of booster sessions in helping to maintain effects over a longer period of time.

Differences in Individual and Dyadic Coping Among Low and High Depressed, Partially Remitted, and Nondepressed Persons

Investigations of the individual and interpersonal coping resources of depressed persons are underrepresented in the field of research on depression. Whereas some studies have been conducted on depressed couples evaluating individual coping or social support from others, only a few studies have addressed the topic of dyadic coping, or the way both partners cope together. In the present effort, male and female participants with a current or past diagnosis of depression, all of whom were married or cohabiting in a close relationship, reported on their individual and dyadic coping and were compared on these variables with a matched group of control participants. Results corroborate previous findings on deficits in individual coping, and to a lesser degree in dyadic coping.

The effectiveness of a coping-focused prevention approach: A two-year longitudinal study

This article focuses upon a new preventive approach designed to improve personal stress management skills. The Coping Enhancement Training (CET) is derived from the Couples Coping Enhancement Training (CCET) and encompasses both an individual and a dyadic aspect. In this study, only the individual element is described. The training is based upon the transactional stress concepts of Lazarus and his coworkers and the further development of this approach by Perrez and Reicherts (1992). Personal coping skills are practiced over a six-hour period by means of theoretical, diagnostic and practical work. This article presents the rationale and content of the program, as well as data concerning the effectiveness of this approach after a period of two years. The data shows that subjects participating in the program displayed better individual coping skills (e.g. active problem-solving and positive self-verbalization) after the training and that they relied upon dysfunctional coping strategies (e.g. rumination and blaming strategies) less often even after two years.

Die Wirksamkeit des Freiburger Stresspräventionstrainings (FSPT): ein Vergleich von zwei Trainingsvarianten

The Effectiveness of the Couples’ Coping Enhancement Training (CCET): A Comparison of Two Training Versions Background: The following study presents the results of two versions of the Couples’ Coping Enhancement Training (CCET). The revised version of the training focuses especially on the dyadic coping, which in comparison with the individual coping is a stronger predictor for the long-term quality of close relationships. Results: The results of the comparison of the two training versions are in favor of the original version of the training, in which individual and dyadic coping are treated as equally important for the couple’s stress management. The enhancement of the relationship of these couples is higher and they report better improvements of the attention for the partner, the dyadic coping, the couple’s communication and their way to solve problems. The effect sizes for the changes of the individual and dyadic coping and the communication confirm the importance of the individual coping especially for the couple’s dyadic coping. Discussion: In general, the results highlight the necessity to promote individual and dyadic competences for the enhancement of the quality of close relationships both in prevention programs and in couple therapies.

Verbesserung der individuellen Belastungsbewältigung im Rahmen des Freiburger Stress-Präventions-Trainings (FSPT):

Zusammenfassung. In diesem Artikel wird ein neues Training (Freiburger Stresspraventionstraining) vorgestellt, welches auf dem transaktionalen Stressansatz von Lazarus und MitarbeiterInnen und dess...

Stressbewältigung im Alter: Ein Vergleich von Paaren jüngeren, mittleren und höheren Alters

Zusammenfassung Im Zentrum dieser Untersuchung steht die Frage, ob in Abhängigkeit des biologischen Alters Unterschiede bezüglich des individuellen und dyadischen Copings auftreten. Insgesamt haben 242 Paare an der Untersuchung teilgenommen. Ausgehend von den wenigen systematisch erfassten Befunden, wonach zu inviduellem Coping mehrheitlich Konstanz proklamiert worden ist, kann eine hohe Stabilität sowohl bei funktionalem wie dysfunktionalem individuellen Coping bestätigt werden. In bezug auf das dyadische Coping dagegen, bei dem ausser einer Studie bis zum heutigen Zeitpunkt keine Ergebnisse zu Alterseffekten vorliegen, zeigten sich Unterschiede im gemeinsamen positiven emotionalen dyadischen Coping und dem Gesamtwert des positiven gemeinsamen dyadischen Copings, wobei die älteste Gruppe jeweils die tiefsten Werte auf- wies.Summary The aim of this study was to investigate age effects on differences and similarities of individual and dyadic coping in 242 couples. There exist only a few systematically designed studies for age effects on individual coping. The majority of the results show that functional and dysfunctional individual coping are maintained constant if age differences are focused on. In our study we found high stability in the functional and dysfunctional individual coping over the three groups.By contrast, there are no studies except one for age effects on dyadic coping in the literature. Our results show differences in the positive emotional common dyadic coping and the total score of the positive common dyadic coping, both with the lowest values in the older couples.

Auswirkungen der kognitiven Verhaltenstherapie, der interpersonellen Psychotherapie sowie der bewältigungsorientierten Paartherapie zur Behandlung von Depressionen auf das beobachtete dyadische Copingverhalten

Zusammenfassung. Theoretischer Hintergrund: Bestehende Befunde sprechen fur einen bedeutungsvollen Zusammenhang zwischen der partnerschaftlichen Bewaltigung von Stress und dem Verlauf von depressiven Erkrankungen. Methode: Es wurden erstmals Therapieeffekte (Pra-Post) der kognitiven Verhaltenstherapie KVT (n = 17 Paare), der interpersonellen Therapie IPT (n = 13 Paare) und der bewaltigungsorientierten Paartherapie BOI (n = 17 Paare) auf das beobachtete offene dyadische Copingverhalten zur Bewaltigung von paarexternem Stress (SEDC: Bodenmann, 1997) bei Paaren mit einem depressiven Partner untersucht. Die Uberprufung erfolgte am Verhalten beider Partner mittels Varianzanalysen. Ergebnisse: Die untersuchten Therapieansatze fuhrten zu einer vergleichbaren Verbesserung der Depression sowie des dyadischen Copings der Patienten. Bei den Partnern hingegen unterschieden sich die Veranderungen bei den positiven dyadischen Unterstutzungshandlungen entsprechend des jeweiligen Therapieansatzes. Schlussfolgerung: Die v...

Das Freiburger Streßpräventionstraining für Paare (FSPT): Selbstwahrgenommene Verbesserungen innerhalb von 6 Monaten

The Couples Coping Enhancement Training (CCET) represents a novel preventive approach for couples focusing on the enhancement of relevant skills which predict a better course of the relationship and a lower risk for divorce. Marital and stress research have shown that particularly four competencies act as important resources: (a) communication skills, (b) problem-solving capacities, (c) adequate individual stress management, and (d) dyadic coping competencies. Thus, these findings suggest to teach couples such competencies at a relatively early stage in their relationship. Whereas several preventive trainings for couples focusing on marital communication already exist, the CCET is new in that it primarily focuses on the coping skills of couples. The rationale of our approach is to strengthen marriage by better managing everyday stress. As several studies reveal, stress is an important negative factor for close relationships and gradually destroys marriage over time. The effectiveness of the CCET is evaluated in this article in regard to the subjective appraisals of changes of (a) the relevant skills and (b) the marriage in general within six months. The results reveal that couples who participated in the CCET report a significant better improvement of their relationship, whereas the couples of the control group do not. Thus, the effectiveness of this new preventive training could be established within six months.

Auswirkungen von verschiedenen therapeutischen Ansätzen zur Behandlung von Depressionen auf das dyadische Copingverhalten

Background: Existing evidence documents a correlation between marital communication patterns and the course of depression. However, there is relatively little evidence regarding the impact of different therapy approaches for depression on marital communication. Method: Analyses of variance were used to examine the effects (pre-post) of cognitive behavior therapy (n = 17 couples), interpersonal psychotherapy (n = 13 couples) and coping-oriented couple therapy (n = 17 couples) on observed dyadic conflict communication of both partners in couples with a depressed partner. Results: All three treatments produced similar improvements in depression in patients and decreases in criticism/defensiveness of patients and their partners. Further the three therapy approaches showed different effects on the communication of partners. Conclusion: In view of the potential importance of marital communication for long-term course of depression as well as of the marital relationship, the current results suggest the benefit of including partners in therapy with depressed patients and the potential utility of COCT as treatment modality.