For religious couples, the spiritual domain stands alongside biological, psychological, and systemic domains as an influence upon interaction and mechanism for change. A qualitative methodology consisting of structured interviews of religious spouses was used to investigate effects of prayer on couple interaction during conflict. A reliable description of the dynamics of prayer across spouse interviews was extracted by four analysts using a group interpretive procedure. Findings suggest that prayer invokes a couple-God system, which significantly influences couple interaction during conflict. Overall, prayer appears to be a significant "softening" event for religious couples, facilitating reconciliation and problem solving. Prayer 1) invokes an experience of relationship with Deity; 2) deescalates hostile emotions and reduces emotional reactivity; 3) enhances relationship and partner orientation and behavior; 4) facilitates empathy and unbiased perspective; 5) increases self-change focus; and 6) encourages couple responsibility for reconciliation and problem solving. Therapists' support of religious couples' use of prayer as a change mechanism is considered.
This article describes the initial translation and validation of the Spanish version of the RELATionshhip Evaluation (RELATE) questionnaire with a sample of monolingual English speakers (n = 78), a sample of monolingual Spanish speakers (n = 18), and two samples of Spanish/English Bilinguals (n = 27 and n = 34). Cross-cultural and cross-language equivalence of the Spanish version of RELATE to the original English version were assessed using a Modified Serial Approach (MSA) for instrument translation. Face and content validity of the Spanish RELATE were established. Test-retest reliability indices obtained with the translated version among the monolingual and bilingual Spanish speaking groups were consistently equivalent to, and in some cases higher than, the baseline reliability obtained with the monolingual English speaking group. Applications of the Spanish version of RELATE and use of the MSA for researchers and practitioners are presented.
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