Community‐Based Premarital Prevention: Clergy and Lay Leaders on the Front Lines^*

Abstract

This study reports on the results of the dissemination of an empirically-based, premarital education program within religious organizations. The following major results are discussed with respect to premarital prevention: (a) Clergy and lay leaders were as effective in the short run as our university staff; (b) couples taking the more skills-oriented intervention showed advantages over couples receiving naturally occurring services on interaction quality; and (c) couples reported that the communication skills components of premarital education were the most helpful.

Relationship Education Programs: Current Trends and Future Directions

“…Leaders deliver the lectures and monitor coaches who work directly with couples as they practice skills such as the Speaker-Listener technique (Stanley et al, 1999). PREP's efficacy has been demonstrated by a number of studies both in the United States and abroad; it produces both short-term and long-term positive changes in couples' relationship satisfaction, communication skills, and conflict management skills (Hahlweg, Markman, Thurmaier, Engl, & Eckert, 1998;Laurenceau, Stanley, Olmos-Gallo, Baucom, & Markman, 2004;Markman, Floyd, Stanley, & Storaasli, 1988;Markman, Silvern, Clements, & Kraft-Hanak, 1993;Stanley et al, 2001;Stanley, Markman, St. Peters, & Leber, 1995).…”

“…Over the past decade, adapted versions of PREP have been implemented in the military (see Stanley, Allen, et al, 2005), in correctional facilities (see Einhorn, Williams, Stanley, Wunderlin, & Markman, 2008), in faith-based organizations (see Stanley et al, 2001), and with couples who have low income levels. Relationship education services have also been disseminated through the internet and to foster parents and stepfamilies.…”

Marriage Matters: A Description and Initial Examination of a Church-Based Marital Education Program

“…Willow Creek Community Church is an evangelical, non-denominational Protestant church. Unlike marital education programs such as PREP (Stanley et al 2001), which were created by psychologists and tested in laboratory and university settings in federally supported research before being implemented in the community, Marriage Matters was created and developed by pastors and counselors at Willow Creek Community Church. Thus, Marriage Matters has not been researched extensively in carefully controlled settings using sophisticated research methods.…”

“…Religious organizations have been targeted by some researchers as an avenue to promote marital education (Stanley et al 2001). Stanley et al (1995) list four reasons for working with religious organizations.…”

Mechanisms of Change in a Cognitive Behavioral Couples Prevention Program: Does Being Naughty or Nice Matter?

“…The DFDS used an early version of PREP that closely matches the version used in the Schilling et al (2003) paper (for a description, see Baucom et al 1993). The other is from the Family Stability Project (FSP) (see Stanley et al 2001), which uses a more recent version of PREP in a broad-based, carefully constructed community sample. Consistent with the model of prevention science developed by Coie et al (1993), PREP is continually updated to reflect new research findings, although the core communication skills taught to couples have remained consistent over the years.…”