The Effectiveness of Couple Therapy and Relationship Support

Enrolling by invitation · Not applicable

Conditions studied: Healthy Adult

In brief

This randomized and controlled study investigates the effectiveness of relationship counselling and couple therapy in improving couples' relationship satisfaction and overall well-being. It compares four intervention groups both with each other and with a waitlist control group. The groups are: 1. HUS Self-Help (Mielenterveystalo.fi): Participants independently complete online self-help tasks based on couple therapy, developed by Helsinki University Hospital (HUS) Psychiatry and Väestöliitto. 2. Peloton Parisuhde (eng. Fearless Relationship) Online Course: Based on Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy (EFCT), this course by EFCT trainers Eklund-Mikola \& Pinomaa uses online lectures and exercises to help couples identify negative interaction patterns and strengthen their emotional connection. 3. Short Manualized Emotionally Focused Couple Intervention: Five face-to-face sessions with a couple therapist. 4. Face-to-Face Couple Therapy (Treatment As Usual): 1 to 10 sessions, with the therapeutic approach varying depending on the therapist's training. The study is conducted at the Relationship Counselling Unit of the City of Helsinki's Social Services in Finland, which provides counselling and family guidance under Section 26 of the Social Welfare Act to couples with children living in Helsinki. A total of 200 couples from the unit's treatment queue will be invited to participate and randomly assigned to one of the interventions or the control group, with 40 couples in each group. Participants will complete questionnaires at the beginning and end of the service, and at a 4-month follow-up. The questionnaires measure relationship satisfaction and well-being, among other things. The study also examines how individual, couple-level, and treatment-related background factors influence and mediate the effectiveness of the interventions. In addition to the questionnaires, registry data, therapist assessments, and ongoing treatment feedback collected within the unit is utilized. The results will provide new scientific insights into the effectiveness of short interventions and their suitable target groups and can be used to develop relationship counselling work both within the unit and nationally.

Key facts

Study ID

NCT07604740

Run by

University of Helsinki

People needed

400

Starts

2025-11-11

Expected to finish

2029-06-30

Last updated by the study team

2026-05-22

Who can join

Age: 18 and older. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: accepted.

You may qualify if…

• Parents (couple) and blended families, and at least one of the parents is resident of Helsinki
• Couples expecting their first child. The couple is experiencing one or more of the following (1) severe relationship conflict, (2) a serious threat of separation, (3) significant challenges in forming a family or navigating a blended family relationship.
• couples eligible for treatment at the couple counselling faculty of Helsinki

You may not qualify if…

• Inadequate Finnish written language skills (the questionnaires are only available in Finnish)
• if both spouses do not complete the baseline questionnaires within the given deadline.

Where it is running

• Relationship Counselling — Helsinki, Finland

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

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