The Effectiveness of Communication Skills Counselling in Improving the Quality of Marital Relationship of Couples

Abstract

The focus of this paper is to determine the effectiveness of communication skills counseling in improving the quality of marital relationships of couples. The population of the study consists of Diploma II students of the 2009/2010 academic session, Institute of Education, in Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, totaling about 275 subjects, each comprising of male and female married couples who were randomly selected and assigned to experimental and control groups.

An experimental design of post-test only control groups was administered to generate data from the subjects of the study in the two groups for seven (7) weeks. An instrument titled "Couples Communication Skills Questionnaire, Section on Improving Communication" was administered to both experimental and control groups for data collection. A t-test technique was used to analyze the data. The result showed a statistically significant difference between the mean scores of participants in the study. Based on this finding, recommendations were made on how to experience quality marital relationships through communication between couples.