The Effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Couple Therapy on Dyadic Perspective-Taking, Pursuing-Distancingin and Sexual Satisfaction in Infertile Couples

Background & Aim: Infertility as a physical problem can overshadow different aspects of a person's psychological, social and family life. This research was conducted with the aim of investigating the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment couple therapy on dyadic perspective-taking, pursuing-distancingin and sexual satisfaction in infertile couples.
Methods: The research was semi-experimental with a pre-test and post-test design with two experimental and control groups. The statistical population of the study included all infertile couples who referred to the Rayan Infertility Center in Mashhad in 2025, which was selected using the available sampling method and according to the inclusion criteria, 30 couples were selected in two experimental groups, 15 couples and 15 couples in the control group. Data collection was done with the dyadic perspective-taking questionnaire (Long, 1990), pursuing-distancingin questionnaire (Bernstein et al., 1985) and sexual satisfaction questionnaire (Larson et al., 1998). For the experimental group, the acceptance and commitment program was implemented in 10 sessions. The data were analyzed by t-test (independent and paired) and multivariate analysis of covariance with spss statistical software version 26.
Results: The results showed that there is a significant difference between the mean scores of the dyadic perspective-taking and pursuing-distancingin of the sample from pre-test to post-test (P<0.05). Also, the results showed that participating in the couples therapy program based on acceptance and commitment, unlike the people in the control group, led to an improvement in the sexual satisfaction scores of the people in the experimental group.
Conclusion: According to the results, it can be said that couple therapy based on acceptance and commitment can have an effect on psycho-sexual structures in infertile couples, and it is necessary to conduct more research in this field in order to increase external validity.