Introduction: Hyperactivity of children can cause problems for couples and threaten their mental health. The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of emotionally focused-meta cognitive couple therapy and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy on psychological capital among couples with hyperactive children.
Methods: The research method was semi-experimental, and research design was three groups with two stages (pre-test and post-test). Among couples with hyperactive children in primary school in Isfahan, in the summer and autumn of 2018, 45 couples were selected purposefully and divided into three groups (two experimental and one control group) and each group was 15 pairs. "Psychological Capital Questionnaire" was used in the pre-test and post-test phases to measure the dependent variable. The emotionally focused-meta cognitive couple therapy group for 15 sessions and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for 10 sessions was treated and the control group did not receive any treatment.
Results: In the post-test, after eliminating the effect of pre-test, there was a significant difference between the emotionally focused-meta cognitive couple therapy, and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy group with the control group in all four components of self-efficacy, hope, resilience and optimism (P<0.01). However, there was no significant difference between the effectiveness of two groups of therapy” in improving self-efficacy, hope, resiliency and optimism (P<0.05).
Conclusions: Two interventions emotionally focused-meta cognitive couple therapy and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy group on the improvement of all four components of self-efficacy, hope, vitality and optimism in couples with over-active children have enduring effects. Therefore, it is recommended to organize workshops to provide two interventions for couples with hyperactive children.