Clinical trial NCT03697421: Montefiore Medical Center Healthy Marriage and Relationship Education Program
Official title: Montefiore Medical Center Healthy Marriage and Relationship Education Program
Study type: OBSERVATIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Conditions: Parenting
Family Relationships
Keywords: parenting
relationships
relationship education
couples
marriage
Lead sponsor: Montefiore Medical Center
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: Children's Bureau - Administration for Children and Families
name: Metis Associates
First posted: 2018-10-05
Enrollment: 1029
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Observational model: COHORT
Time perspective: PROSPECTIVE
Sampling method: NON_PROBABILITY_SAMPLE
Study population: The population is 47% Hispanic and 44% African-American. The income level of the majority of the couples enrolled was at or below 200% of poverty level, and 36% received income from public assistance. The majority of couples we served (72%) had a high school degree or less, and nearly half (49%) of participants were unemployed at program enrollment with many more under-employed. Their average age was 36 years old, including 10% between the ages of 17 and 24. The average duration of marriage for couples in our program was 7 years; however, the range of relationship longevity was quite wide, spanning from newlywed couples married for a few months to couples married for over 30 years. All couples had at least one child under 18 years old living in the home (or were expecting a child), and we estimate that approximately two thirds of families in our program were comprised of at least one partner with a child from a previous relationship.

Brief summary: The proposed program will flexibly provide an array of relationship promotion activities incorporating case management and job placement/career advancement activities: marriage and relationship education; pre-marital education and marriage skills; marriage enhancement and marriage skills for married couples; and divorce reduction and relationship skills. In addition, our proposed local evaluation will examine factors that might account for the observed impacts of attending relationship education programs (i.e., higher levels of relationship satisfaction), including dosage of workshops, relationship commitment and longevity, and skill learning.

Detailed description: The objective of the proposed evaluation is to delineate those factors and sub-groups that account for the observed impact of HMRE services on the quality of relationships. Specifically, we are interested in investigating the following factors:

1. Commitment: Are couples that are more committed to each other (measured in terms of marital status, duration of relationship, or relationship commitment scale scores) more motivated to attend a greater number of HMRE workshops? Do they actually learn more relationship skills, and report improvements in their relationship quality?
2. Hopefulness: How does hopefulness about the relationship impact outcomes?
3. Dosage: Is attendance at a greater number of workshops related to improvements in relationship satisfaction and relationship quality?
4. Couple characteristics: How are various demographic factors related to observed outcomes?
5. Skill acquisition: How much did couples actually learn during the course of the relationship workshop?

In order to explore these research questions, we will be conducting an evaluation that utilizes pre-and post-survey data and qualitative interview information from participants. This will be a descriptive study and not a random assignment design. Data collection will begin when couples who expressed interest in the program attend a preliminary interview with one of Montefiore's clinical staff on site. The program and study will be explained to the couple and they will be asked to consent to participate. Once consent is gathered, on-site staff will administer measures required by our funders through an online system called nForm, or Information, Family Outcomes, Reporting, and Management. This online system was developed by Mathematica Policy Research, an agency contracted by the Department of Health and Human Services to conduct a Cross-Site evaluation of all grantees who received funding to provide relationship education services. Preliminary demographic information will be collected through surveys completed by participants online through secure web browsing at a Montefiore facility.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* In a committed relationship
* 18 years or older
* expecting a child or are caring for a child in the home at least 50% of the time (biological, foster, adopted, kinship care, etc.)

Exclusion Criteria:

* Active intimate partner violence and increased risk of intimate partner violence

Primary outcomes:
measure: Change in Couples Satisfaction Index (CSI-32)
timeFrame: Change from Baseline CSI at 6 months
measure: Change in Relationship Hope Scale
timeFrame: Change from Baseline Relationship Hope at 6 months
measure: Change in Maybe I Do? Scale (Commitment)
timeFrame: Change from Baseline Commitment at 6 months
measure: Change in Assessing Emotions Scale (Emotional Intelligence)
timeFrame: Change from Baseline Emotional Intelligence at 6 months
measure: Change Skills Assessment Measure (Skill Acquisition)
timeFrame: Change from Baseline Skills at immediately post intervention and at 6 months
measure: Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Survey
timeFrame: Halfway through intervention (Week 6 of 12 weeks, or Week 5 of 9 weeks)
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Information, Family Outcomes, Reporting, and Management (nFORM) Applicant Characteristics
timeFrame: Baseline
measure: Information, Family Outcomes, Reporting, and Management (nFORM) Pre-Program Survey
timeFrame: At start of intervention (Week 1 of 12 or 9 weeks)
measure: nformation, Family Outcomes, Reporting, and Management (nFORM) Post-Program Survey
timeFrame: Immediately post intervention (Week 12 of 12 weeks or Week 9 of 9 weeks)
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Bronx
country: United States
facility: Montefiore Medical Center
state: New York
Study officials:
affiliation: Montefiore Medical Center
name: Scott Wetzler, PhD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References: