Comparison of the Effectiveness of a Divorce Stigma Reduction Training and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy on Sense of Coherence in Divorced Women

Background: Marital dissolution acts as a severe psychosocial stressor that frequently compromises women’s psychological wellbeing, a vulnerability that is often exacerbated by societal stigma. The present study sought to evaluate and compare the efficacy of Divorce Stigma Reduction (DSR) training versus Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) in fostering the Sense of Coherence (SOC) among divorced women.
Method: The research employed a quasi-experimental design featuring pretest, posttest, and a two-month follow-up phase, alongside a waitlist control group. The target population consisted of divorced women seeking services at the Rose Counseling Center in Shiraz, Iran, during 2024. Through convenience sampling, 45 eligible individuals were recruited and randomly allocated into three equal groups (n=15 per group). Participants in the first experimental condition attended eight 90-minute sessions of DSR training, while those in the second condition underwent eight 90-minute sessions of MBCT. The control group received no active intervention during the study period. Assessment of the primary outcome was conducted using the 29-item Sense of Coherence Scale (SOC-29). Statistical analyses, comprising repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Bonferroni post-hoc comparisons, were executed using SPSS version 26.
Results: The repeated measures ANOVA revealed significant group-by-time interaction effects for both overall SOC and its underlying components (P<0.001). Compared to the waitlist controls, participants receiving DSR training and MBCT demonstrated significant improvements in SOC scores across the posttest and follow-up evaluations (P<0.001). At postintervention, the mean total SOC scores were 72.33±6.04 for the DSR condition, 65.27±6.68 for the MBCT condition, and 47.47±5.86 for the control group. Notably, DSR training yielded significantly greater gains in total SOC at posttest relative to MBCT (mean difference=7.06, 95%CI [3.12, 11.00], P<0.001). Furthermore, these therapeutic gains were adequately sustained at the two-month follow-up assessment.
Conclusions: While both therapeutic interventions proved successful in bolstering SOC among divorced women, DSR training exhibited significantly greater clinical efficacy than MBCT within this specific population.