The couple’s tree of life: Promoting and protecting relational identity

We present The Couple’s Tree of Life (CTOL) as a new collective narrative methodology to strengthen couple relationships and prevent conflicts. The CTOL, based on the tree of life methodology (Ncube & Denborough, Tree of Life, mainstreaming psychosocial care and support: a manual for facilitator...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Chimpén-López, Carlos A., Pacheco Pérez, Meritxell, Pretel, Teresa, Bastón, Rebeca, Chimpén-Sagrado, Daniel
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2021
País:España
Institución:Universitat Ramon Llull (URL)
Repositorio:DAU Arxiu Digital de la Universitat Ramon Llull
OAI Identifier:oai:dau.url.edu:20.500.14342/2350
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14342/2350
https://doi.org/10.1111/famp.12727
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Teràpia narrativa
Parella
Identitat
Teràpia de la parella
Intervenció psicosocial
Descripción
Sumario:We present The Couple’s Tree of Life (CTOL) as a new collective narrative methodology to strengthen couple relationships and prevent conflicts. The CTOL, based on the tree of life methodology (Ncube & Denborough, Tree of Life, mainstreaming psychosocial care and support: a manual for facilitators, REPSSI, 2007), aims to reinforce the identity and strengths of the couple. We explain the CTOL implementation process and illustrate it step by step with a group of 14 adult heterosexual Caucasian couples who belonged to Protestant churches in Madrid (Spain). As a way to assess its usefulness before applying the CTOL to other groups of couples, we conducted a pre-post evaluation using the Dyadic Adjustment Scale of Spanier(1976). We found an improvement in dyadic adjustment, quality, understanding of, and satisfaction with, the relationship. The results, though not generalizable at this stage, suggest that the CTOL could reinforce the couple’s identity while maintaining individual identities. We also discuss the possible applications of couples therapy.