University of Zurich reaches out to Corona-stressed couples
The University of Zurich is offering couples free online training—and, soon, online coaching—to help them nurture their relationships. The goal is to strengthen couples’ relationships during times of stress and to foster mutual support.
The couple life online training was developed by Prof. Guy Bodenmann and his team and scientifically evaluated together with Prof. Thomas Berger, University of Bern.
Since, as a result of the coronavirus, many couples and families live in close quarters at home all day, this unfamiliar situation can contribute to increased tension in the couple relationship. In addition, there are insecurities, fears and melancholy. The online training is designed to give couples impulses to make their time together as stress-free and positive as possible and to promote mutual support.
Healthy couple relationship as a basis
Partnership is one of the most important pillars of psychological and physical well-being. When people are satisfied in their couple relationship, they report higher overall life satisfaction and better health. A "healthy" couple relationship is also objectively associated with a better immune system and a lower risk of disease. It is therefore worth strengthening couple relationships, which are particularly prone to disruption in times of stress.
Promote partnership communication and support
Based on scientific findings, the online training aims to promote communication as partners and mutual support. However, communication skills break down particularly often under stress. For this reason, it is important to start by strengthening joint stress management and to show couples how they can master everyday stress and daily demands together.
The Couple Life Online Training provides brief inputs to better understand the importance of important partnership variables. It uses video examples to illustrate important aspects of communication, joint problem solving and mutual support, and shows how couples can strengthen their resources. The training can be worked on alone or together.
Online coaching for couples
In addition, Paarlife is working on offering free couple coaching sessions on the occasion of the Corona Crisis starting this week. Couples can choose a time slot via the Paarlife homepage and get in touch with a free Paarlife coach via phone, mail contact or chat media.
