In addition to evaluating the overall effectiveness of behavioral marital therapy (BMT) in aiding distressed couples, the current investigation explored the relative effectiveness of (a) cotherapists versus single therapists and (b) immediate treatment versus delayed treatment, which resulted from placing couples on a waiting list. Thirty maritally distressed couples were randomly assigned to one of six treatment conditions, with 5 couples per condition: (a) immediate treatment by Therapist A; (b) immediate treatment by Therapist B; (c) immediate treatment by Therapists A and B as a cotherapy team; (d) delayed treatment by Therapist A; (e) delayed treatment by Therapist B; (f) delayed treatment by Therapists A and B as a cotherapy team. The results indicated that BMT was more effective than no treatment on both self-report measures and one of two behavioral measures, thus affirming the overall effectiveness of the treatment. A cotherapy team and single therapists were equally effective in producing treatment changes. In addition, overall there were no significant differences between couples receiving therapy immediately and couples treated after a 10-week waiting period. Research and clinical implications are noted.
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