The Long Term outcome research on the Hope approach to couple therapy indicates that the majority of couples retain growth and improvement even 2-10 years after finishing a course of couple treatment. Dr. Ripley briefly describes this research for a non-psychologist audience.
Link to the published article: https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2022-10489-001
Hope-focused couple counseling demonstrates positive outcomes after treatment and 2-10 years later.
What is it about? A study of the strategic hope-focused approach to couple counseling finds that couples who complete the counseling improve in their relationship after treatment. The results of improvement hold up in a 2-10 year post-treatment follow up analysis. Couples who started counseling with clinical scores, indicating dissatisfaction, consistently improved after treatment and maintained their results. Couples who started counseling scoring in the enrichment range, or happier, maintained their happiness.
Why is it important? The long-term effects of couple counseling is largely unexplored. This is the first study of the hope-focused approach long-term effects. The results are similar to other couple counseling long-term studies which find couples counseling is effective and tends to have a long-term positive effect overall.