the efficacy of emotion-focused couple therapy on self-efficacy, body image concerns, and couple burnout in women with sexual dysfunction

Objective: this study examines the effectiveness of emotion-focused couple therapy (eft) in addressing self-efficacy, body image concerns, and couple burnout among women experiencing sexual dysfunction.methods:  the study utilized a semi-experimental pre-test-post-test design with a control group. the target population consisted of women diagnosed with sexual dysfunction in ardabil city in 2024. purposive sampling was employed to select 34 participants, divided equally into experimental (n=17) and control (n=17) groups. the experimental group participated in nine 90-minute emotion-focused couple therapy (eft) sessions, while the control group received no intervention. data collection involved administering several measures: the female sexual function index, general self-efficacy scale, body image concern inventory, and couple burnout scale. statistical analysis was conducted using multivariate analysis of covariance in spss-27.results: the findings demonstrated significant improvements in several domains among women receiving eft compared to the control group. specifically, eft led to substantial decreases in body image concerns (f=60.62), physical exhaustion (f=71.82), emotional exhaustion (f=44.34), and mental exhaustion (f=54.22), alongside notable increases in self-efficacy (f=59.40) (p<0.001).conclusion: these results underscore the importance of integrating therapeutic approaches that consider both individual and relational dynamics in the treatment of sexual dysfunction.