Sutuoktinių, dalyvavusių programoje „Sutuoktinių susitikimai“, konfliktų sprendimo pokyčiai

It increases the dissatisfaction with the marriage, which results in the seemingly easiest choice of divorce. Therefore, it is important to develop relevant skills, to learn to communicate and understand one“™s spouse. In order to effectively solve the conflicts that have risen, one needs to pay close attention to the positive conflict resolution strategies; this way the relationship improves and destructive conflicts in the family are avoided. The article analyses the impact of the programme “Encounters of Spouses“ on conflict resolution approaches. “Encounters of Spouses“ is a weekend programme for married couples that aims at strengthen­ing the bond between the spouses, developing the dialog between them and increasing the understanding of each other. The programme is coordinated by the Lithuanian Family Center and has been implemented in Lithuania since 1992. Over this period, more than 200 married couples took part in these weekend programmes all over the country. Methods . In order to measure the changes in conflict resolution, the qualitative research (of the focus group) and the quantitative research (comparative) were compared. The data was collected by applying methods of an interview and a semi-structured questionnaire. The participants of the research (13 married couples in total) were asked to fill in the questionnaire before the weekend programme “Encounters of Spouses“, right after the programme and 3 months after that. Results . After carrying out the content analysis and the quantitative data analysis, the obtained results showed that after taking part in the programme the causes for conflicts did not change ““ the results did not show any significant changes in this area. However, the results of the research prove that the programme “Encounters of Spouses“ is effective, because after taking part in it spouses started doing more for each other and began to apply constructive ways for settling conflicts. The spouses are also fighting less with each other after the programme.