Impact evaluation of the family expectations program and moderation by sociodemographic disadvantage

Abstract

The federal government, through the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), has funded community‐based relationship education programs for couples, individuals, and families, with a strong focus on serving economically disadvantaged and racially diverse families. This study evaluated the impact of a 36‐hour, workshop‐based couple relationship education program that was funded by ACF using a randomized controlled trial (RCT) design and intent‐to‐treat (ITT) analyses. Participants were 1320 couples who were either expecting a baby or had a baby within the past 3 months, at the time of enrollment. Follow‐up surveys were administered 12 months later. Analyses evaluated program impacts on relationship stability, constructive communication, and destructive conflict compared to a no‐treatment control group. Analyses showed a statistically significant impact of the program on destructive conflict (d = 0.10) but not on constructive communication (d = 0.06) or stability (dCox = 0.10). Based on findings from previous evaluations, we also examined whether participants’ levels of sociodemographic disadvantage moderated these effects. There was significant moderation by sociodemographic disadvantage on constructive communication and destructive conflict, but not on stability. Effects were observed for those at higher levels of sociodemographic disadvantage.

Changes in couple, parenting, and individual functioning following Family Expectations program participation

“…First, continued work is needed strengthen the sustained impact of programming. Although short‐term changes were observed in the current study, other research from this RCT suggested more limited long‐term effects (Ritchie et al, 2022 ). Second, results indicate the importance of developing and implementing programs that couples attend.…”

“…The current study considers change among participants in an ACF-funded study of the Family Expectations program, a 12-week group-based in-person program for expectant or new parents designed to provide couples with information and skills to help during this transition, including topics related to newborn care, stress management, coparenting, and couple functioning. Previous findings from this randomized controlled trial of the program indicated that couples assigned to Family Expectations demonstrated less destructive communication at 1-year follow-up compared to couples in the control condition (Ritchie et al, 2022). Further, some program effects were moderated by socioeconomic factors, such that more socioeconomically disadvantaged individuals demonstrated increased benefits in relationship communication and stability (ibid).…”

“…Relatedly, these findings suggest the potential for some program effects at postprogram in more domains than were observed at 1‐year follow‐up (cf. Ritchie et al, 2022 ). If so, this would suggest that program effects were occurring initially within couples, but were not sustained (apart from improvements in destructive communication for the entire intervention group relative to controls).…”

Individual-oriented relationship education and postpartum depression: The impact of the MotherWise program.

“…Further, MotherWise may also strengthen women's awareness of postpartum depression and ways to access services, creating an approachable entry point for pursuing important mental health services. It is pertinent to evaluate how the effects of MotherWise compare to other forms of relationship education, such as those serving pregnant and postpartum couples (e.g., Family Expectations; Ritchie et al, 2022) or online services (OurRelationship; Roddy et al, 2020). Such knowledge would help to further clarify whether our findings are limited to MotherWise or generalizable to other relationship education programming that could further expand the reach of postpartum depression prevention.…”

“…Further, although certainly a strength of the program, MotherWise includes multiple services to support pregnant and postpartum women, which limits our ability to pinpoint which aspects of MotherWise are particularly impactful on postpartum depression. However, this combination of services is similar to other relationship education programs (e.g., Family Expectations in Oklahoma City; Ritchie et al, 2022), allowing for easier comparison and generalization. Future studies would benefit from exploring which aspects of MotherWise (e.g., curriculum, case management, financial assistance, group dynamics) separately or jointly contribute to postpartum depression prevention.…”