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The Hope-Focused Marriage Approach was developed by Worthington (1999) as a brief 5-12 week intervention with couples. The approach incorporates the growing research on beneficial and destructive processes in marriage. The Hope-Focused approach is Christian based, rooted in biblical principles, but can also be used with non-Christian couples if the religious language and biblical references are translated into broadly appealing concepts (Worthington, 1999). The purpose of this case study is to provide an example of how this approach can be applied to conceptualizing and treating clinical cases. A co-therapy team of Patrice Turner, a second year Psy.D student, and Stuart Hall, a second year Master's in Counseling student, met with the couple for an intake and provided three intervention sessions focusing on conflict resolution. The approach is not designed to be so brief, but was necessary due to changes in clinical training rotations. The couple was informed of this at the outset and referred for continued therapy at termination. Identifying information for this couple was changed to protect confidentiality.
The Couple
Mary (27) and Steven (30), married six years, requested brief marriage therapy to learn how to adjust to new Stressors in their marriage. Steven was diagnosed with a terminally ill disease and given less than 5 years to live approximately 6 months prior to intake. The couple also had a 1year-old son. Steven and Mary had long term goals which were abandonded due to the medical difficulties. While the illness left Steven unable to work regularly at the time of the intervention, his cognitive and interpersonal skills were not affected. However, it did mean that Steven and Mary had to move to be closer to relatives for support since neither of them were working. Therefore, the illness and changes in daily family life were both complicating factors in the marriage.
Prior to attending the first session, the couple filled out online questionnaires which assessed the following areas: marital and sexual satisfaction, commitment to the marriage, dyadic adjustment, partner forgiveness, values in marriage (seeing marriage as a covenant versus contractual), attachment style, Stressors in marriage, conflict resolution, depression, and religious values. The couple's assessment profile indicated that they were satisfied in their marriage; however, they had difficulty resolving conflict. During the intake session, the couple...