Development and Validation of a Psychological Capital Training Package for Couples and Its Effectiveness on Marital Adjustment and Relational Resilience

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a psychological capital training package for couples and examine its effectiveness on marital adjustment and relational resilience. Psychological capital consists of hope, self-efficacy, resilience, and optimism, and it can play a significant role in how couples cope with marital stress, communication difficulties, and family crises. Couples with higher psychological capital are more likely to approach relational challenges with flexibility, problem-solving ability, positive expectations, and persistence. Instead of relying on blame, avoidance, or withdrawal, such couples may use constructive strategies to manage difficulties and maintain emotional connection. Although psychological capital has been widely examined in organizational and educational settings, its application in couple relationships has received less systematic attention. Therefore, developing a couple-oriented training package based on psychological capital may provide a preventive and empowering framework for improving marital functioning. This study employed a mixed-methods design. In the qualitative phase, the components of the training package were identified through a review of relevant literature and semi-structured interviews with experts in family counseling, positive psychology, and couple therapy. The session content, educational objectives, practical exercises, homework assignments, and implementation procedures were then developed and validated by specialists. In the quantitative phase, the effectiveness of the package was examined using a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest design with a control group. Participants were couples seeking to improve their relationship quality and were selected through purposive sampling. They were assigned to experimental and control groups. The experimental group received the psychological capital training package in structured sessions, whereas the control group received no intervention during the study period. Data were collected using measures of marital adjustment and relational resilience. The findings indicated that the developed package had satisfactory content validity and significantly improved marital adjustment and relational resilience in the experimental group compared with the control group. These results suggest that psychological capital training can be used as a preventive, educational, and therapeutic approach in couple counseling centers to strengthen adaptive coping, hope, optimism, and resilience in marital relationships.