Page 82 - EMCAPP-Journal No. 8
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Christian Psychology alive
Dorcas Khomari &
Prof. Wilna J. Basson Dorcas Khoma-
Experiences of Christian ri, professional
couples attending a Nurse, Clinical
Psychologist ob-
Biblically-based marriage tained from the
enrichment programme Medical Univer-
sity of Southern
Africa. ZA. She is
a lecturer at the
Maitemogelo a banyalani ba bakeresete a len- Sefako Makgatho
aneo le o le ikaegileng mo motheong wa Beibele Health Sciences University in Ga-Rankuwa,
la go tiisa lenyalo. Pretoria. In her search for effective therapeu-
Pegelo e e tlhagisa maitemogelo a banyalani ba tic interventions, through the inspiration of
le 31 ba o ba tsereng karolo go lenaneo la go the Holy Spirit, she discovered the power of
tiisa mayalo a bareresete. Batsaya karolo ba tl- the Word. Trained at the Institute for Chri-
hopilwe ka go nopola maina go tswa mo mai- stian Psychology and incorporates Christian
neng otlhe a banyalani mo kerekeng ya Pente- approach to therapy. Her home language is
koste, Pretoria North, South Africa. Setswana.
Maitemogelo a banyalani a kokoantswe ka go dorcas.khomari@smu.ac.za
botsa dipotso, go diriswa lenaneo la dipotso leo
le akaretsang dipotso tseo di sa letleleleng tlha-
loso le tseo di letlelelang tlhaloso. Dipotso di
arabilwe kwa bofelong ba lenaneo. Introduction
Dipoelo tsa dipatlisiso di tlhagisitse fa banyala- Worthington, Buston and Hammonds (1989)
ni ba itemogetse fa lenaneo la go tiisa lenyalo le define marriage enrichment programmes as
nnile le mosola mo kamanong ya bona. Gape programmes that help couples to enhance their
banyalani ba begile fa ba tlhoka mananeo a a relationships by developing their ability to initi-
ka amang matlhakore mangwe a a botlhokwa a ate changes in their relationships. Marriage en-
lenyalo ao a sa akarediwang mo lenaneong le ba richment therefore refers to preventative measu-
tsereng karolo mo go lona. res aimed to support functional couples or non-
distressed couples to improve or maintain their
This study reports on the experiences of 31 relationships (Blanchard, Hawkins, Baldwin &
Christian couples (n=62) who attended a mar- Fawcett, 2009). Bader (1984) further explains
riage enrichment programme that explicitly that unlike encounter programmes, marriage
incorporated the Christian teachings intended enrichment programmes are designed to en-
to strengthen marriage relationship of Christi- hance the positive aspects of the relationship
an couples. A randomly selected sample was without inducing emotional expression that are
obtained from couples attending a Pentecostal common in therapy or counselling.
Church in Pretoria North, South Africa. Their Although marriage enrichment programmes
experiences on the programme were captured have been scientifically proven to be effective
using a closed and open-ended questionnaire in improving marital relationships (Alqashan,
that was completed at the end of the program- 2008; Jakubowski, Milne, Brunner, & Miller,
me. Descriptive data analysis indicated that the 2004; Halford, Markman, Kling, & Stanley,
couples experienced the programme as benefi- 2003; Malcolm, 1992; Bader, 1984), couples at-
cial. The couples further expressed their need tendance of the programmes is still a challenge
for other programmes that would address other to marriage and family therapists (Roberts &
areas of their marriage relationship which were Morris, 1998). Andrews (1994) estimated that
not addressed in the present programme.
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