Page 87 - EMCAPP-Journal No. 8

Christian Psychology alive

Themes Male Females Total how to address on another”, “open up to each
partici- partici- other”, “openness and loving the wife”. In terms
pants pants of communication and facilitation of roles, par-
Empowerment and 10 8 18 ticipants mentioned that the programme help
enrichment them with “open communication” and “sharing
God’s word”.
Teaching and in- 10 11 21 Slightly less than half (48%) felt that the pro-
formation gramme should include additional aspects
Advice and 3 7 10 such as question-answer session, games as ice
guidance breakers, issues relating to the upbringing of
Improvement and 2 1 3 children, finance issues and intimacy.
self-understanding In response to whether the programme was
Deliverance 1 1 3 worthwhile, participants mentioned that they
Motivation or 1 0 1 found the programme “relevant and informa-
encouragement tive”, addressing “outstanding issues”, empowe-
Prayer 0 1 1 ring to speak freely, “enriching”, “reviving and
refreshing”.
Excitement 1 0 1 Finally most (90%) of the participants indicated
No expectations 2 2 4 that they would attend similar programmes in

n=62 the future. The few who were reserved about at-
Table 2: Expressed expectations of the programme tending similar programmes in the future poin-
ted out that they needed time to practice what
they learnt first (7%), or they felt that counsel-
Table 3 below indicates that the majority of ling was not needed (3%).
the participants (87%) confirmed that the pro-
gramme fully met their expectations while the Discussion and recommendations
minority (7%) felt that their expectations were The findings of the study indicated that the Bi-
partly met. blically based marriage enrichment programme
was experienced by the majority of the parti-
cipants as the “best”. This is supported by Tan
Level met Frequency Percentage (1990); Worthington (1993); and Plante (2008)

Highly 1 2 who reported that religious clients prefer and
Fully 54 87 are comfortable when their religious beliefs
Partly 4 7 are considered in therapy. Most of the coup-
les further found the programme beneficial.
No response 3 4 As most of the participants were in the 16 and
n=62 above years of marriage, this could be a con-
Table 3: Expressed level of met expectations firmation of what Bader (1984) meant that the
enrichment programmes tend to attract coup-
les with twenty and more in marriage. At the
The majority (93%) of the participants reported same time the finding could indicate a need for
that the programme was beneficial to them and Biblically-based programmes that could faci-
that they would not want anything excluded litate couples communication to decide on how
from it. Participants commented that they be- love and respect could be expressed in their
nefited in terms of teachings on the principles relationship. Only few couples felt that they
of love and respect, as well as communication will not attend similar programmes in the fu-
and facilitation of roles. Regarding teachings on ture. The finding could be due to the few coup-
the principles of love and respect participants les considering the programme as therapeutic
expressed that the programme taught them “on and therefore not relevant to them (van Acker,

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