The effect of Solution-Focused Family Counseling based social work practices with families on psychological well-being level and family life satisfaction of married individuals

This study aimed to examine the effect of "Solution-Focused Family Counseling Based Social Work Practices with Families" (SFFC-SWPF) on the psychological well-being and family life satisfaction of married individuals (as a couple) and the permanence of this effect with quantitative and qualitative findings. In this study designed with the "Embedded Experimental (Intervention) Mixed Method Design," one of the mixed research methods, the "pre-test, post-test and follow-up test measurements with non-equivalent experimental and control groups" were used to structure the experimental and control groups. Accordingly, the study was carried out on married couples who applied to Elazığ Social Work Center and Elazığ Municipality Family Counseling and Training Center and agreed to participate voluntarily in the study. The study group consists of a total of 16 couples (32 people), including 8 married couples (16 people) experimental group and 8 married couples (16 people) control group. In the study, the "Psychological Well-Being Scale for Married Men and Women" was used to measure the psychological well-being levels of married couples, and the "Satisfaction with Family Life Scale" was used to determine family life satisfaction. The experimental group received SFFC-SWPF for a total of 7 weeks (including a follow-up session one month after the intervention) with individual sessions for each married couple held once a week. A total of 54 sessions were performed with the experimental group and these sessions lasted approximately 90 hours (5400 minutes). The follow-up (persistence) session conducted with the experimental group was structured in a way that allowed both quantitative and qualitative data to be collected. Accordingly, married couples were first given follow-up tests, and then semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted to obtain their evaluations and comments about the experimental intervention and counseling process. For the control group, no other procedures were conducted apart from the pre-test, post-test and follow-up tests. The data analysis process was carried out in two parts: analysis of quantitative findings and analysis of qualitative findings. In the analysis of quantitative data, in cases where the data set was parametric, an "Independent Samples t-test" was used in preliminary analyses, and "Two-Way ANOVA for Mixed/Repeated Measures" was used in the fundamental analyses. In cases where the data set was non-parametric, "Mann Whitney U Test" was used in preliminary analyses, and "Friedman's ANOVA (F) test" was used in the fundamental analyses. According to the results of quantitative analysis, it was determined that SFFC-SWPF was highly effective in increasing marital couples' psychological well-being and family life satisfaction levels in all the scales and their sub-dimensions (except for one) used to measure the dependent variables, and this effectiveness was also observed to continue in the follow-up test (Engagement in activities outside the home sub-dimension of the Psychological Well-Being Scale had a low level of effectiveness). Qualitative data were obtained from couples' reports, their feedback, and the qualitative interviews conducted with the couples during the follow-up session in the experimental intervention process. The qualitative findings were analyzed using a 2-stage coding system, which included "theme-based coding" and "participant (couple)-based coding," through the MAXQDA 2020 Analytics Pro qualitative data analysis software. As a result of content analysis, a total of 7 themes emerged, including 6 main themes and one supporting (auxiliary) theme. The qualitative findings were evaluated based on these 7 themes. The experimental group emphasized that the SFFC-SWPF was quite functional and useful, and it was observed that the qualitative findings aligned with the quantitative data obtained from the interviews. Finally, the results obtained from quantitative and qualitative analyzes were discussed and interpreted within the framework of the literature. As a result of the discussions and interpretations, recommendations were presented in various titles that are considered to be useful for the studies and practices to be carried out in the future. In conclusion, it was determined that the "Solution-Focused Family Counseling based Social Work Practices with Families" is effective and functional in increasing the psychological well-being and family life satisfaction levels of married couples, as well as helping them acquire solution-focused thinking skills. Key Words: Solution-Focused Family Counseling, Social Work with Families, Psychological Well-being, Family Life Satisfaction, Married Couples