FACILITATING HEALTHY INTERACTION IN MARITAL RELATIONSHIPS THROUGH COUNSELLING

Abstract

The paper focused on enhancing healthy interaction in marital relationships through attending to words counseling. Observations during counseling have revealed that spouses do not attend to the words of their partners during interaction. Rather, they engage each other in negative use of words that degenerate to disagreements or arguments using shouting or yelling matches, name-calling, and the exchange of abusive and insulting words on each other, which is unpleasant.

An experimental study design of pre-test and post-test was used to collect data from diploma two students in the Institute of Education, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. From a population of 257 students in the 2009/2010 academic session admission, a sample size of 30 spouses was randomly selected to take part in the study. An instrument titled "Couples Communication Skills, Section on Attending to Words Counseling" was administered for seven weeks to the spouses. The respondents used a four (4) point Likert scale for rating. A t-test technique was used to analyze the data collected.

The result of the study revealed that the treatment on attending to words counseling was effective in enhancing the interaction of spouses. It was, therefore, recommended that an attending to words counseling package be taught to spouses to enhance interaction in marital relationships.