Adjustment experiences of couples in living-apart-together marriage in the university of education, winneba

Abstract

This study looked at the adjustment experiences of couples in living-apart-together marriages and came out with counselling or coping strategies for couples in LAT marriages. The study was guided by four research questions. The study was qualitative in nature adopting phenomenological case study design. Sixteen (16) married couples were sampled for the study. Of the 16 participants, five were males, and 11 were females. The sampling techniques used for the study were the purposive sampling and snowballing techniques. Data were gathered using interview guide and were analysed thematically. The outcome of the study were that couples in LAT marriages enjoy adequate time for career goals. Despite the merits of LAT marriages, it was also revealed among other things that couples in LAT marriages experience lack of companionship and intimacy, and there is a high incidence of infidelity among couples. Effective communications, forgiveness among others were the coping strategies couples in LAT marriages used. In order to harness the inherent potential and advantages and minimize the drawbacks of LAT relationships, it was recommended that couples must cultivate the habit of effective communication, maximizing the power of virtues such as love, forgiveness and trust and practice the value of acceptance of responsibility, use work and social activities as a distraction, apply the principles of cognitive restructuring.