Does Participation In The Tools For Life Marriage Enrichment Program Contribute To Increased Marital Satisfaction Communication And Conflict Resolution In Couples

Relationship enrichment programs serve to promote the development of healthy intimate relationships (Halford, Markman, Kling, & Stanley, 2003). There are hundreds of relationship enrichment programs available in the United States, alone (smartmarriages.com, 2013). Weekend to Remember is a faith-based relationship enrichment program which has not yet been the subject of empirical evaluation. This is not unusual. A select few of these types of interventions have received research attention, and little of this research has been published in peer reviewed journals. This study aims to contribute to this small body of existing literature by examining the effectiveness of the Weekend to Remember program on couples' relationship satisfaction, communication, conflict resolution, and forgiveness. Maintenance of these changes, and the influences of gender, length of marriage, and level of religiosity on the study variables were also examined. The relationship between forgiveness and conflict resolution was also of interest. This was measured through pre, post, and follow-up assessment of couples, using comparisons between a wait list control group and treatment group. Participants included 49 straight couples. The present study used a longitudinal and correlational design to observe changes in participants after engaging in the Weekend to Remember relationship enrichment program. Analyses involved repeated measurement of the same subjects compared to a wait list control group at two (two surveys administered one month apart before attending Weekend to Remember) and three (pre, post, and follow-up assessment) time points. Analyses also examined the relationship between demographic and study variables. Both the couple and individuals were the units of analysis. Results indicated that participation in Weekend to Remember increased healthy conflict resolution and this gain was maintained at eight week follow-up. Results did not support an increase or maintenance of relationship satisfaction or forgiveness. Over time, communication did significantly improve, and this gain was maintained. Relationship satisfaction upon entering the intervention, gender, length of relationship, and religiosity were not found to predict significant differences in the study variables. Conflict resolution and forgiveness significantly correlated with one another at pre and follow-up, but not at post assessment.

Assessment of Couples and Families considers the impact of recent changes on the assessment process and provide practitioners with a review of contemporary techniques and the means by which they can be implemented into practice in conjunction with new reporting inventories and observational methods. These new assessment strategies will be presented collaterally with case material that addresses a specific problem, such as family violence or marital suitability. This unique problem focus will provide practitioners with a handy point of reference to acquaint themselves with modern practice techniques that address issues new to the therapy session while providing a supplement to coursework on assessment.

Marital enrichment programs have been gaining considerable recognition in the past several decades. Thousands of individuals participate in these programs yearly. However, the particular effects of enrichment programs are still under investigation, and many remain empirically unanalyzed and their effectiveness undetermined. Also, many dyadic interventions focus on helping couples improve their communication skills and become more socially supportive of their partner. This study explored changes in levels of perceived social support, constructive communication, and marital satisfaction in couples participating in a marital enrichment program, Marriage Alive. Couples who completed all 3 phases of the study (i.e., pre-seminar, post-seminar, 2 month follow-up) were included in these analyses. Results indicated that levels of support, communication, and satisfaction increased by the end of the enrichment seminar for husbands and wives. However, only gains in communication were fully maintained at follow-up. The finding of sustained improvements in communication skills has far-reaching implications, which will be discussed here. This study also explored whether changes in social support from pre-seminar to follow-up mediate the relationship between changes in constructive communication and changes in marital satisfaction; however, this model was not supported. Implications and future directions for the specific seminar under investigation are also discussed.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of MarriageCore, a Christian based, multi-couple, 6-month program designed to help couples increase their overall level of relationship satisfaction, improve the quality of their attachment to their romantic partners, and improve their overall sense of spirituality from a Christian perspective. The theoretical lens of attachment theory guided this study, with a special focus on the interplay between each partner’s attachment to God and to one another. There is a substantial research base that documents the usefulness of Marriage and Relationship Education (MRE) programs in helping couples improve the quality of their romantic relationships. Prior to this study, however, no research had been conducted to investigate the usefulness of MarriageCore in accomplishing what it sets out to do. This mixed methods online study investigated the MarriageCore experience of 19 participants who provided information both at the end of their MarriageCore program (Time 1) and at a 6-week follow up (Time 2). The following instruments were used in this study: a demographic survey, the Quality of Marriage Index (Norton, 1983), the Experience in Close Relationship Scale-Short form (Wei, Russell, Mallinckrodt, & Vogel, 2007), and the Spiritual Assessment Inventory (Hall & Edwards, 2002). Participants were also asked a series of open-ended questions designed to further explore their experiences with the MarriageCore program. As part of the demographic section of the study in Time 1, participants were also asked the following two open-ended questions: (1) Please briefly explain your answer to the question above (At this time, how satisfied are you with how MarriageCore has met your expectations); and (2) Please briefly identify what you found most useful about your MarriageCore experience. Furthermore, participants were also asked the following open-ended questions both at Times 1 and 2: (1) In what ways has your spirituality changed because of your MarriageCore experience?; (2) In what ways has your marital satisfaction changed because of your MarriageCore experience?; (3) In what ways has your care for your partner changed because of your MarriageCore experience?. Finally, participants were also asked this final qualitative question in Time 2 only of the study: What are several changes you have experienced in your marriage that you learned through the MarriageCore program? Quantitative and qualitative results converged, suggesting that the majority of research participants found MarriageCore to be a useful program for them as participating individuals. Both the qualitative and quantitative data suggest MarriageCore is useful in regards to helping improve participants’ overall satisfaction with their relationships, their perceived sense of connection (lower attachment anxiety and avoidance) with their partners, and an improved relationship with God in various aspects. Many participants identified different ways MarriageCore benefited their relationships, including helping them reframe how they saw themselves, their partners, and/or their marriage, improvement in communication, togetherness, conflict resolution, and emotional regulation, both in Times 1 and 2. In regards to spirituality, the data suggest that many participants experienced improvement in their relationship with God, which resulted in different ways of perceiving their marriages and their own selves. A small number of participants, however, reported not sharing these same relational or spiritual benefits as the others. A few participants reported not improving their level of satisfaction with their marriages or their perceived sense of spirituality as a result of their MarriageCore experience.

THE MARRIAGE AND FAMILY EXPERIENCE is an engaging, student friendly, four-color Marriage and Family best seller. The text's up-to-date material, real-life cross-cultural examples, and balanced presentation make it an accessible and compelling read for the Marriage and Family student. It successfully bridges all elements of the course, including intimate relationships, family policy, and family issues. The combination of the strengths fosters consistent positive student reaction and feedback.

Grounded in extensive research and clinical experience, this indispensable book addresses the "whats," "whys," and "how-tos" of conducting effective marriage and relationship education. Leading authority W. Kim Halford reviews a range of contemporary models and provides an in-depth description of his own approach, Couple CARE. Session-by-session guidelines for therapists show how to help groups or individual couples—including those facing major life changes or stressors—foster closeness and communication, manage conflicts, and prevent common relationship problems. The book also explains how to use commercially available online assessment tools to help each couple develop their own relationship goals. It includes 35 reproducible handouts and forms.

This dissertation reports the design, implementation and evaluation of a church-based marriage enrichment program. The program is based on the cognitive/behavioral tradition providing insight and skills needed to change thinking and behavior. This approach not only enables married couples to learn effective ways of developing a more stable and satisfying relationship, but also provides a structure in which the learned skills can be put into practice. 12 couples participated in this 8-week program. They completed the following 7 components: 1) attendance and participation in the Prevention and Relationship Enhancement Program Approach seminar; 2) reading 2 marriage enrichment books; 3) Bible-based devotional reading and prayer twice weekly; 4) a date night every other week; 5) weekly meetings; 6) a weekend retreat; and 7) attendance and participation in a "Celebration of Commitment" ceremony. The ENRICH Marital Inventory was given as a pre- and post-test. It was used to measure the effectiveness of the program along with verbal and written reporting by the couples. The hypothesis validated by the research for all 12 couples is: Having completed the marriage enrichment program, couples will report greater marital stability and satisfaction.

Marital Interaction: Experimental Investigations deals with experimental studies on marital interaction. Emphasis is on the importance of the role of description in the study of social interaction. Methods for the analysis of pattern and sequence, including cross-spectral time-series analysis, are also presented. Comprised of 15 chapters, this book begins with a historical review of several research traditions that have concerned themselves with families and marriages: the sociological tradition; the family therapy or systems tradition; the social learning tradition; and the developmental tradition. Research that points to the potential importance of the observation of consensual decision-making processes is also reviewed. A model of marital interaction called the Structural Model, which can be used to predict changes in marital satisfaction, is described. Subsequent chapters focus on the Couples Interaction Scoring System, an observational system for categorizing marital interaction; modern concepts of the assessment of reliability, particularly the stringent assessment that is necessary for sequential analysis; differences between well-functioning and poorly functioning marriages; couples' interactional styles in terms of communication skill deficits; and the concept of an individual's social competence. This monograph will be of interest to psychologists engaged in research on marriage, as well as sociologists and clinical researchers.