If We Build It, They Will Come: Exploring Policy and Practice Implications of Public Support for Couple and Relationship Education for Lower Income and Relationally Distressed Couples

Bradford, Angela B.; Hawkins, Alan J.; Acker, Jennifer

doi:10.1111/famp.12151

Cited by 51 publications

(109 citation statements)

References 67 publications

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“…When offered as part of pre-marital education – one of the more common forms of formal RE in the United States (Johnson et al, 2002) – this conceptualization likely holds. However, when RE is offered more broadly, approximately one quarter to one half of couples report their relationships are distressed or experiencing difficulties (Bradford, Hawkins, & Acker, 2015). Therefore, programs like OurRelationship could be offered as a supplement to typically group-based RE to help distressed couples focus on their pressing relationship problems.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Maintenance of Gains in Relationship and Individual Functioning Following the Online OurRelationship Program

et al. 2019

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In the United States, more than 40% of marriages end in divorce and more than one third of intact marriages are distressed. Unfortunately, only a minority of couples seek couple therapy to improve their relationships. Online interventions, with their increased reach and reduced costs, offer the potential to improve relationships nationwide. The online OurRelationship program has been shown in previous nationwide studies to improve relationship and individual functioning. The present study examined whether initial gains in the OurRelationship program were maintained in the following year and whether the extent of maintenance varied across important demographic and individual factors. In this study, 151 distressed heterosexual couples (302 individuals) who were randomized to the OurRelationship program were assessed 3 and 12 months following the intervention. Initial gains in relationship satisfaction, relationship confidence, and negative relationship quality were maintained through 12 months; positive relationship quality significantly improved over follow-up. Furthermore, couples maintained their initial gains in depressive symptoms, perceived health, work functioning, and quality of life; anxious symptoms continued to significantly decrease over follow-up. Finally, there was no evidence that historically underserved groups – racial/ethnic minorities, lower income couples, or rural couples – experienced greater deterioration. In fact, Hispanic couples reported continued improvement in relationship confidence and negative relationship quality in the 12 months following the program. The ability of the OurRelationship program – an eight-hour, primarily self-help program – to create long-lasting improvements in distressed relationships indicates it may have the potential to improve the lives of distressed couples on a broad scale.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Maintenance of Gains in Relationship and Individual Functioning Following the Online OurRelationship Program

et al. 2019

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“…Many CRE participants today are experiencing relationship distress (Bradford, Hawkins, & Acker, ) and likely worried about the future prospects of their relationship. However, Csikszentmihalyi and Nakamura () claimed that optimism can be learned, and a recent study indicated that relationship confidence can be increased through educational interventions (Visvanathan, Richmond, Winder, & Koenk, ).…”

Section: Relationship Hope and Couple And Relationship Educationmentioning

confidence: 99%

How Does Couple and Relationship Education Affect Relationship Hope? An Intervention‐Process Study with Lower Income Couples

2017

Self Cite

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Objective To explore whether changes in positive interaction skills as a result of participation in couple and relationship education (CRE) are associated with changes in relationship hope. Background Recent CRE work has focused more on its effectiveness for disadvantaged couples, with the early evidence mixed. Increasing the effectiveness of CRE for disadvantaged couples will require more evidence of how it works, not just whether it works. Method In this study, 182 lower income couples participated in a 30‐hour psychoeducational intervention, Family Expectations (FE), in Oklahoma City. Participants completed measures of positive interaction skills and relationship hope, a seldom‐studied construct in CRE research, before and shortly after the program. Results At pretest, there was significant variation in relationship hope among FE participants. Latent growth curve models revealed changes in positive interaction skills were associated with higher levels of partners' relationship hope at the end of the program, although the effect of men's skills changes on their partners' hope was 3 to 4 times stronger than for women's skills changes on their partners' hope. Additional latent growth curve models found that nearly 70% of participants reported positive changes in skills and that participants entering the program with the lowest levels of hope experienced the greatest changes in positive interaction skills. Conclusion We conclude that relationship hope is a legitimate target outcome in CRE and is influenced by improvement in positive interaction skills, consistent with social learning theory. Also, those entering CRE with low levels of hope improve interaction skills most, and men's growth produces larger gains for the couple relationship than women's growth. Implications Distressed individuals and couples should be particularly encouraged to attend CRE programs, and program developers should make sure that their curricula and pedagogic processes are well aligned with men's interests and learning styles.

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“…Yet, researchers have noted a demographic shift toward more highly distressed participants attending RE programs (A. B. Bradford et al, ; Carlson, Rappleyea, et al, ; Quirk et al, ). Similarly, although individuals experiencing IPV were not the targeted population of our study, most participants (71.7%) reported some or a severe level of violence in their current or most recent relationship.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Despite RE's history of focusing on prevention, an increasing number of distressed couples have accessed and enrolled in RE programs, in part because of federally funded RE initiatives targeting RE for low‐income couples (A. B. Bradford, Hawkins, & Acker, ; Carlson, Rappleyea, Daire, Harris, & Liu, ). The prevalence of high‐distress couples and individuals attending RE programs has initiated the integration of clinical and psychoeducational intervention in training and direct service provision (A.…”

Section: Ipv and Couples Interventionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Influence of Individual‐Oriented Relationship Education on Equality and Conflict‐Related Behaviors

Carlson

Wheeler

Adams

2018

Jour of Counseling & Develop

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Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a widespread, pervasive problem that affects couples and individuals from diverse backgrounds. Effective IPV screening practices and interventions that consider IPV context have not been widely studied. Therefore, the authors examined the influence of individual‐oriented relationship education for 230 low‐income participants on equality and conflict‐related behaviors, while accounting for baseline IPV characteristics. Participants who began the intervention with more IPV experiences reported significant improvements in equality and conflict‐related behaviors postintervention.

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If We Build It, They Will Come: Exploring Policy and Practice Implications of Public Support for Couple and Relationship Education for Lower Income and Relationally Distressed Couples

Cited by 51 publications

References 67 publications

Maintenance of Gains in Relationship and Individual Functioning Following the Online OurRelationship Program

Maintenance of Gains in Relationship and Individual Functioning Following the Online OurRelationship Program

How Does Couple and Relationship Education Affect Relationship Hope? An Intervention‐Process Study with Lower Income Couples

The Influence of Individual‐Oriented Relationship Education on Equality and Conflict‐Related Behaviors

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