Mykolaychuk Mariana Igorevna,
Candidate of Psychological Sciences, Associate Professor
Department of Psychology and Psychotherapy
Ukrainian Catholic University (Lviv)
Syritsa Marina Viktorivna,
crisis psychologist, psychotherapist,
Director of the Central Regional Development Fund “Yarmiz” (Kyiv)
Stulkivska Maryana Mykhailivna,
doctoral student at the Pontifical Salesian
University (Rome, Italy)
RESULTS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL TRAINING “COMMUNICATION ACROSS DISTANCES”
ON TRAINING PSYCHOLOGISTS IN COUNSELING WITH COUPLE OF MILITARY SERVICEMEN (VETERANS)
Relevance of the research. In defense of the large-scale aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, which has become a “hot” stage of the Russian-Ukrainian war, tens of thousands of men and women have joined the ranks of the military formations of our state. They have been defending the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine for the fourth year and have been outside the family system for a significant period of time, at a considerable distance from the places of residence of their families, maintaining in the vast majority of cases only virtual, remote communication with relatives and close people. Such a situation causes the emergence of problems of interpersonal interaction, family conflicts, the destruction of families and partnerships as a result of divorces, marital infidelity, unresolved problematic issues of a family nature, etc. As a result, the demand for qualified psychological services in providing assistance to couples in establishing intra-family relationships, overcoming conflicts and crises, and solving family problems has increased in society, which requires scaling up the training of qualified specialists in these issues and determines the relevance of our research.
The purpose of the article is – research into the effectiveness of a training program for psychologists to provide couples counseling to families of military personnel and veterans, based on attachment theory and emotionally focused therapy (EFT) methods.
Presentation of the main material. In October 2024, a three-day training for psychologists-consultants and military psychologists working with families of military personnel and veterans, entitled "Communication through distance", was held at the Charitable Organization "Charitable Foundation "Rehabilitation and Readaptation Center "Yarmiz" as part of the project "Stable Family - Strong Country" with the support of the International Renaissance Foundation.
The main goals of the training were: to strengthen the knowledge of psychologists in couple counseling of military families and veterans; to reduce the level of anxiety, fears about working with married/partnered couples; to increase the general level of readiness to consult the specified categories of couples; to deepen knowledge and skills in couple counseling; to build a network of referrals in case such a need arises during counseling. The methodological basis of the training program was attachment theory and EFT. The training was conducted simultaneously in two formats - offline and online.
Structurally, the training program consisted of four blocks, which were covered over three training days (5 training hours each):
Day 1 included two blocks:
block No. 1 (3 hours) – the impact of war experience on the life of a soldier and his family during and after military service; combat intelligence and the formation of a soldier’s identity; changes in the life of a civilian partner, the spouse who is left waiting; complicated war experience (injury, PTSD, captivity); visible and invisible challenges of a couple, changes in a couple; the main complaints of a couple that are heard, and how to translate them into a request [1];
block No. 2 (2 hours) – counseling as a type of family support; recommendations and wishes for the construction of the counseling process (how it differs from psychotherapy) and for the personality of the counselor; ethical principles of working with military/veteran couples; specifics of counseling military/veteran couples; basics of attachment theory as the main controlling element of the counseling process; three-focus diagnostic model [2; 3];
Day 2 included one block No. 3 (5 hours) – techniques of psychological counseling for couples based on EFT; theory of the cycle in a couple; features of couples' redirection; practical exercises [3];
Day 3 also included one block No. 4 (5 hours) - practical work on cases of married/partnered couples; summarizing the results of the training.
After completing the training, the project provides for supervisory support for training participants for two months.
The selection of training participants was carried out on the basis of interviews, with preference given to specialists from segregated communities who have less access to educational services and professional support. The selected participants were surveyed in three stages: before the training, after its completion, and after the completion of supervisions.
Before and after the training, participants were surveyed to determine their level of awareness in the field of couple counseling for military/veterans and their family members, in particular with escalated (highly conflict-prone) couples; knowledge of the specifics of psychological work with this category of clients; and readiness of psychologists to work with them. After the supervisions, a survey will be conducted to check the level of residual knowledge.
The survey of psychologists - participants of the training was conducted using the author's questionnaire consisting of a theoretical (37 questions) and a practical (case) part. The theoretical part contained statements regarding the level of respondents' agreement with various aspects of the training; the general level of readiness of psychologists to work with military couples and veterans, in particular in various difficult situations; the level of knowledge of psychologists regarding the specifics of working with military and veterans; the level of professional knowledge, skills and abilities about the structure and techniques of counseling, attachment theory, EFT, relationship work and crisis counseling.
The survey was conducted online using a Google form. Statistical analysis of the empirical research results was performed using the IBM SPSS Statistics version 21 computer program.
The total number of respondents was 39 people (92.3%, 36 people were female, 7.7%, 1 person was male), of which 30 were civilian psychologists (77%), 9 were military psychologists (23%).
According to the results of the training, the number of respondents who chose the highest level of readiness for couples counseling increased from 46.2% (18 people) to 61.5% (24 people); those who hesitated decreased from 23.1% (9 people) to 5.1% (2 people), and those who considered themselves unprepared or rather unprepared for counseling (2.6%, 1 person) decreased to zero.
Also, there is a statistically significant increase in the indicators of psychologists' readiness to counsel couples in various difficult situations (one of the couple expects greater results than the other; the presence of signs of dependent behavior; signs of PTSD; the presence of amputation or complex injuries). These indicators were assessed on a 5-point Likert scale, where 1 is the minimum level of readiness, and 5 is the maximum (Table 1).
Table 1
Results of psychologists' readiness to counsel couples in various difficult situations
| Readiness indicators | Aggression | Refusal of one of the couple | Increased expectations | Captivity experience | Addictive behavior | PTSD | Amputation | Complex injury |
| to the training | 4,00 | 4,21 | 4,05 | 3,68 | 3,15 | 4,18 | 4,10 | 4,00 |
| after training | 4,38 | 4,58 | 4,62 | 4,08 | 3,62 | 4,62 | 4,50 | 4,46 |
| + /– | +0,38 | +0,37 | +0,57* | +0,40 | +0,47* | +0,44* | +0,40* | +0,46* |
Note: *p < 0.05.
Assessment of the knowledge, skills and abilities of psychologists on the topic of the training before and after the training generally showed an improvement in results, in particular regarding the techniques used in counseling (18% correct answers before the training, 50% correct answers after the training), reactions to a strong escalation of the couple during the consultation (66,7% and 77% respectively before and after the training). At the same time, those who studied remained open and insufficiently worked out questions regarding determining the name of the psychotherapeutic techniques used by the psychologist, working with secondary emotions of clients and formulating open questions.
Factor analysis of an open-ended question regarding the basic knowledge and skills acquired or deepened by the participants during the training showed that 35% psychologists gained a clear understanding of the structure of consultations and the necessary techniques; for 23%, an important aspect was the expansion of knowledge about attachment theory in the context of working with couples; 19% deepened their knowledge of EFT methods for working with emotions; 15% realized the content of the concept that in couples counseling the main client is the relationship in the couple; 8% positively assessed the opportunity to work with real cases and crisis situations.
At the same time, 31% psychologists improved their skills in paraphrasing and reformulating, especially in the context of working with attachment; 27% improved their skills in empathy, validation, and mirroring clients' emotions; 19% learned to better structure work with couples; 12% noted improved emotional processing skills, especially in the context of EFT; 12% training helped improve skills in working with crisis situations and clients' aggression.
Conclusions. By According to the results of the “Communication through Distance” training, psychologists showed a statistically significant increase in their overall level of willingness to counsel military couples and veterans, both in ordinary and complex situations (presence of PTSD, amputations, complex injuries, addictive behavior, inflated expectations of one of the spouses).
The training participants noted the correspondence of its content to the stated goals, its usefulness in working with military couples, the openness of the instructors to questions, and would recommend this training to their colleagues.
The professional knowledge, skills and abilities acquired by psychologists during the training will help improve their level of competence, emotional stability, prevent professional burnout and, as a result, ensure effective support for clients and preserve their working capacity in today's difficult conditions.
At the same time, further options for the training program require improvement in terms of forming theoretical knowledge, practical skills and abilities in the application of psychotherapeutic techniques, working with clients' secondary emotions and formulating open-ended questions, increasing training time for practical classes with working through cases and examples, thematic expansion and improvement of the theoretical part of the training.
List of sources used
- Cruz V. PTSD Therapy for Military Personnel. How to Return to Normal Life / Virginia Cruz. – Kyiv: Naukovyi svit, 2024. – 128 p.
- Workshop on individual psychological counseling of military personnel, veterans and members of their families: teaching and methodical manual / S.M. Khoruzhiy [and others]. – Kyiv: LLC “7BC”, 2023. – 90 p.
- Johnson SMAttachment Theory in Practice: Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) with Individuals, Couples, and Families / Susan M. Johnson. - New York: The Guilford Press, 2019. - 278