A colleague of mine, a very imaginative consultant named Gail Rubin, quite effectively uses movies to facilitate planning for death (click for a program example), including the writing of wills. Reading the below press release about couples watching movies to improve or preserve their relationships got me thinking of many other areas in which movies might be useful. Could movies be helpful in resolving conflict, developing leadership, raising self-awareness, promoting mindfulness, enhancing cognitive development?
Of course, as the researchers write in the study article, more research needs to be done on this kind of movie therapy. The value of using movies in other arenas such as the above-listed needs research, too, but at least it could be entertaining.
Here's the news release from University of Rochester. (Click to see the list of movies and discussion questions used in the study, and to read the study itself.)
Divorce Rate Cut in Half for Couples Who Discussed Relationship Movies
January 31, 2014
Contact: Susan Hagen [email protected]
585.276.4061
A new study finds that watching and discussing movies about relationships is as effective in lowering divorce rates as other, more intensive early marriage counseling programs.
Discussing five movies about relationships over a month could cut the three-year divorce rate for newlyweds in half, researchers report. The study, involving 174 couples, is the first long-term
investigation to compare different types of early marriage intervention programs.
The findings show that an inexpensive, fun, and relatively simple movie-and-talk approach can be just as effective as other more intensive therapist-led methods—reducing the divorce or separation rate from 24 to 11 percent after three years.
"We thought the movie treatment would help, but not nearly as much as the other programs in which we were teaching all of these state-of-the-art skills," said Ronald Rogge, associate professor of psychology at the University of Rochester and lead author of the study. "The results suggest that husbands and wives have a pretty good sense of what they might be doing right and wrong in their relationships. Thus, you might not need to teach them a whole lot of skills to cut the divorce rate. You might just need to get them to think about how they are currently behaving. And for five movies to give us a benefit over three years—that is awesome."
Perhaps most exciting, added Rogge, is that this self-help exercise could open new possibilities for nurturing nuptial ties on a broad scale. "It's incredibly portable. There are really great marriage intervention programs available now but most require trained therapists to administer them. If couples can do this on their own, it makes it so much easier to help them," he said.
Rogge and a team of researchers including co-author Thomas Bradbury, a professor of psychology and co-director of the Relationship Institute at UCLA, published the findings in the December issue of the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology.
Religious groups have long-standing traditions of offering marriage preparation classes, but with roughly half of all marriages in the United State ending in divorce, secular institutions are now joining the effort. For example, Fairfax County, Va. offers free "compassion training" to newlyweds, the U.S. military has an "oxygen for your relationships" program, and Oklahoma, home to the nation's highest divorce rate, has poured millions into its "marriage initiative."
Click to read the rest with live links.
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