Program Development from Start-to-Finish: A Case Study of the Healthy Relationship and Marriage Education Training Project

What goes into designing and implementing a successful program? How do both research and practice inform program development? In this article, the process through which a federally funded training curriculum was developed and piloted tested is described. Using a logic model framework, important lessons learned are shared in defining the situation, identifying and maximizing inputs, clarifying and tracking outputs, and documenting and reporting outcomes

Fit 2-B FATHERS: The Effectiveness of Extension Programming with Incarcerated Fathers

Incarceration and recidivism negatively affect offenders, their children, families, and communities. Fit 2-B FATHERS, a social and parenting skills program for males in the corrections system, has been found to improve participants attitudes about themselves, their role as fathers, and their understanding of positive parenting practices. This program can help participants become less of a security risk during the remainder of their sentence and have reduced rates of recidivism following their release. When participants positively engage in the lives of their children, their children may be less likely to engage in at-risk behaviors that could lead to imprisonment

Preparing Future Child Welfare Professionals to Strengthen Couple Relations

This study evaluates the potential value of integrating a family science-focused course on strengthening couple and coparenting relationships into the training of social work students and future child welfare professionals. The 15-week graduate course offered 30 MSW students an opportunity to learn and practice relationship and marriage education (RME) skills in order to teach relevant concepts to clients and to support future integration of these skills in their careers. Evaluation data showed that students demonstrated improvements in multiple domains of knowledge and self-efficacy and applied the concepts learned with clients within six months of completing the course. Implications for future trainings, research, and the scholarship of teaching and learning are shared

Strengthening Marriages: An Evaluation and Assessment of a Couple\u27s and Marital Enrichment Newsletter

In times of shrinking budgets, are newsletters a wise use of resources? Findings from Ohio State University Extension indicate they are. Results from an evaluation and assessment on the impact of a statewide couples and marital enrichment newsletter reveal that a significant proportion of readers experience positive changes in knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors. Readers tend to rate the newsletter positively and view it as a helpful resource in their personal relationship. Newsletters like this can serve as a cost-effective way to reach more couples in the community (who may not attend a relationship class) and promote healthy marriages

The Communication Patterns Questionnaire-Short Form: A Review and Assessment

The Communication Patterns Questionnaire-Short Form (CPQ-SF) is an 11-item self-assessment of spouses’ perceptions of marital interactions. A cited reference review of the CPQ-SF literature revealed no formal assessment of its psychometric properties and that researchers are imprecise in their use, reporting, and referencing of the assessment. Toward improving the use of the CPQ-SF in research and practice, the factor structure and psychometric properties of this scale were examined with data collected from a diverse sample of married individuals. Three latent constructs were identified: criticize/defend, discuss/avoid, and positive interaction patterns. Support for the original two-factor structure, demand/withdrawal and positive interaction, was also found. Suggestions for a more precise use of the CPQ-SF in research and practice conclude the paper

Meeting Couple and Coparenting Relationship Needs of Foster Caregivers: Perceptions of Georgia Child Welfare County Directors

Foster caregivers face many unique challenges that may cause strain on their couple/coparenting relationships. Though foster caregivers receive training to help them navigate certain challenges of fostering, there is a lack of resources dedicated to supporting their couple/coparenting relationships. In the study described in this article, we examined the perceptions of Georgia Division of Family and Children Services (DFCS) county directors regarding potential effects of providing healthy marriage and relationship education (HMRE) to foster caregivers. Findings suggest that DFCS directors are in favor of providing HMRE to foster parents but that barriers to doing so must be addressed

The Impact of the P.I.C.K. a Partner Relationship Educational Program on Single Army Soldiers

Educating singles on how to develop healthy, romantic relationships can be beneficial to their subsequent dating and marital satisfaction, and for Army soldiers, their satisfaction with military life. A new relationship program, the P.I.C.K. program, was delivered to single Army soldiers, and at the conclusion of the program participants demonstrated an increase in their understanding of the crucial areas to explore and discuss in a premarital relationship, gained a better understanding of how to pace their relationship, and exhibited more realistic attitudes and beliefs about marriage and mate selection

Engaging and Training Professionals to Implement Family Strengthening Programs: Lessons Learned

Child welfare professionals (CWPs) who attended the Healthy Relationship and Marriage Education Training delivered by Extension educators in Georgia participated in focus groups 6 months post-training to investigate what elements of the training influenced their implementation of the concepts and their recommendations for future trainings. The findings revealed three elements that influenced implementation: relevant content, interactive training, and trainer attributes. CWPs made recommendations concerning content/curriculum format, field implementation, and training methods. Conclusions included recommendations for both CWPs and Extension educators. As an unexpected outcome, results suggested that qualitative evaluation may reinforce and strengthen partnerships between Extension and other agencies

Now They Know: Helping New Mothers Gain Parenting Knowledge and Become Aware of Family and Consumer Sciences Extension Programming

The Guide for New Parents is a cross-programmatic educational resource developed to help new mothers adjust to parenting and learn about Family and Consumer Sciences Extension (FACS) programming. Approximately 8,600 new mothers were reached, and responses from a diverse and representative sample of mothers revealed that this resource was perceived as useful and promoted public awareness of FACS Extension. Future educational resources that integrate content across Extension programs for targeted audiences can be useful in building greater public awareness and utilization of the various resources available from Extensio

Fostering a Culture of Family-Centred Care: Child Welfare Professionals\u27 Beliefs About Fathers, Family Instability, and the Value of Relationship Education

Guided by the Cultural Competence Attainment Model, the purpose of this study is to examine how socio-demographic and work characteristics are associated with variations in child welfare professionals\u27 (CWPs) attitudes about father involvement and family instability and how these attitudes are linked with whether they view relationship and marriage education as relevant to their efforts to support families. Drawing from a sample of 624 CWPs and using latent profile analysis, the results revealed three latent classes of CWPs, with most professionals being labelled as either moderately or highly concerned about father involvement and family instability, with a smaller class of professionals labelled as having less concern about these family issues. Those labelled as highly concerned tended to be older, male, African American, married, and had worked longer in the child welfare field. As well, those labelled as highly concerned were more likely to agree that strengthening the couple and coparenting relationship would benefit children and were most amenable to receiving RME training. Implications for relationship and marriage education training for child welfare professionals and other practitioners are provided