• 403-01 - Child Welfare Professional Opinions About Offering Relationship Education
  Presented by: Renay P. Cleary Bradley, Ted G. Futris, Kimberly Allen, David G. Schramm, D. Greg Brooks, Allen W. Barton
• 403-02 - Individual Factors Associated With Involvement in Different Types of Marriage Preparation Interventions
  Presented by: Stephen Duncan, Shelece McAllister, Jeffry Larson
• 403-03 - A Content Analysis of What Couples are Saying About Relationship Education
  Presented by: Daniel Hubler, Brandon Burr, Lauren Stahl, Ashley Messer, Kelly Roberts, Brandt Gardner

Abstracts

Child Welfare Professional Opinions About Offering Relationship Education

Presented by: Renay P. Cleary Bradley, Ted G. Futris, Kimberly Allen, David G. Schramm, D. Greg Brooks, Allen W. Barton

Utilizing quantitative and qualitative data collected from 1168 child welfare professionals (CWPs), this study examines how CWPs perceive the relevance of relationship and marriage education (RME) for their clients, how they feel about offering RME, and concerns/barriers related to offering RME. Results suggest that CWPs often understand the relevance of couples' relationships to child health and safety, although they may not all agree that they are the most appropriate people to intervene in this domain. Proper training and integration of RME into their current systems may help CWPs overcome some of the barriers they identified in offering RME to clients.

A Content Analysis of What Couples are Saying About Relationship Education

Presented by: Daniel Hubler, Brandon Burr, Lauren Stahl, Ashley Messer, Kelly Roberts, Brandt Gardner

Concerns regarding the impact of relationship distress and divorce have prompted initiatives to offer couple relationship education (CRE) programs to diverse audiences. Recent efforts have been focused on offering CRE to lower-income couples who may be at greater risk for relationship difficulty. Little is known about public perception of CRE, and perhaps more so for lower-income couples as, historically, CRE has been less available to low-income couples. This study utilized content analysis on couples discussing the pros and cons of attending relationship education in a primarily lower-income sample. Ideas for CRE programmers are discussed in light of study findings.