Self-Compassion Training for Dysfunctional Attitudes, Perceived Stress, and Marital Adjustment of Married Women with Depression

Objective: The present study aimed to determine whether self-compassion training affected dysfunctional attitudes, perceived stress, and marital adjustment of depressed married women. Method: A quasi-experimental pretest-posttest design with a control group was adopted, and 40 married women were selected by convenience sampling and randomly assigned to experimental and control groups, each comprising 20 women. Participants were screened for depression using the Beck Depression Inventory (a score of 14 or higher), and data were collected via the Dysfunctional Attitudes Scale, Perceived Stress Scale, and Dyadic Adjustment Scale. The experimental group participated in eight self-compassion training sessions, and the control group received no intervention. The data were analyzed by multivariate analysis of covariance. Results: Results showed that training significantly reduced dysfunctional attitudes and perceived stress and improved marital adjustment. Conclusions: The results suggest that self-compassion training represents a promising psychological intervention to improve mental health and relationship quality among depressed married women.