The Effectiveness of a Counseling Program Based on Experiential Therapy in Enhancing Marital Life Skills and Self-Differentiation Among a Sample of University Students

The present study aimed to examine the effectiveness of a counseling program designed to improve marital life skills and self-differentiation among a sample of male and female university students. To achieve the study objectives, the researcher developed a counseling program consisting of 11 sessions, delivered at a rate of two sessions per week. Two instruments were utilized: a self-differentiation scale and a marital life skills scale, both of which were validated for reliability and validity. The study population consisted of university students, with a sample of 32 participants randomly assigned to two groups: an experimental group (16 students) and a control group (16 students). The counseling program was administered to the experimental group. Subsequently, post-test measurements were conducted for both groups, along with a follow-up measurement for the experimental group. The results indicated statistically significant differences between the mean scores of the experimental and control groups on both the self-differentiation and marital life skills scales, favoring the experimental group, attributable to the counseling program. The findings also revealed no statistically significant differences between the post-test and follow-up measurements for the experimental group on both scales, indicating the sustained effectiveness of the counseling program.