Marital therapy formats: an analysis of acceptability ratings with married spouses

One hundred thirty-five married individuals evaluated the acceptability of alternative therapeutic formats commonly employed in marital therapy. Distressed and nondistressed spouses were randomly assigned to experimental conditions including two types of educational information (descriptive and group-oriented) presented across three treatment formats (i.e., individual, conjoint, and group). Primary dependent variables included the Treatment Evaluation Inventory and the Semantic Differential. Results revealed that conjoint format was most acceptable, followed by group and individual, respectively. However, distressed spouses rated the group and conjoint formats as equal in acceptability. Group-oriented information increased nondistressed subjects' ratings of group format. The implications of these results for clinicians and researchers offering marital therapy are discussed.