Abstract:
Empirical evidence for the efficacy of Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy (EFT) to improve
relationship satisfaction is well established by prior randomized controlled trials and outcome
studies, but evidence is needed for the effectiveness of EFT in natural conditions. A pilot project
was conducted to measure the effectiveness of EFT. Therapists practicing EFT invited couples
naturally presenting for couple therapy treatment to complete the Revised Dyadic Adjustment
Scale (RDAS) and Outcome Questionnaire 30.2 (OQ-30.2). Measures were completed at each
session to model the trajectory of change. Seven therapists provided data from 11 couples across
18 months of data collection. Based on prior outcome studies and the intended outcomes of EFT,
relationship satisfaction and individual functioning were hypothesized to improve as a result of
EFT intervention. Multilevel modeling showed improvement in relationship satisfaction over
time, with variance between individuals and couples. Although improvement in individual
functioning for this population was limited, inclusion of individual functioning scores better
described the trajectory of change in relationship satisfaction. Results of a paired samples t-test
for first and last RDAS and OQ-30.2 scores found statistically significant improvement for
relationship satisfaction and statistically non-significant improvement for individual functioning.
A medium effect size of d = 0.46 for relationship satisfaction is lower than efficacy outcomes,
but more effective than natural history. These findings indicate couples seeking relationship help
from an EFT therapist can expect their relationship to reasonably improve, although the benefits
may not be as large as clinical outcomes from controlled research. Implications of these findings
for research and practice are discussed, with a focus on the potential for practice research
networks to obtain large-scale effectiveness data
