The Magic of WDEP in Reality Therapy

Abstract. Background: Reality therapy’s WDEP helps people to become aware of their wants and to engage in directing, evaluating, and planning to recognize the challenges and find solutions to them. This study examined the effect of reality therapy intervention on marital intimacy needs and communication patterns in married men. Methods: We conducted this quasiexperimental study using a pretest-posttest design with a control group. The participants were 30 men selected using simple random sampling who were placed into two intervention and control groups, each of 15 persons. The data were collected using the Communication Patterns Questionnaire ( Christensen & Sullaway, 1984 ) and the Marital Intimacy Needs Questionnaire (MINQ; Bagarozzi, 1997 ). We performed the reality therapy intervention for the members of the intervention groups in 8 sessions of 90 minutes. We then analyzed the collected data using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) with SPSS software (version 26). Analysis: The implementation of the reality therapy intervention increased the couples’ scores of intimacy needs and all its subscales ( p < .05). Further, there was an increase in constructive relationships with the spouse in the intervention group ( p < .01). However, these changes were not observed in the participants in the control group. Conclusion: Since the reality therapy intervention focuses on accepting responsibility, valuing thinking, and acting in life instead of making excuses, it can help married men to identify their intimacy needs and establish more effective communication with their wives.