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The Supporting Healthy Marriage Demonstration

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Interventions aimed at healthy marriage among low-income married couples ... Low-income couples' marriages are more likely to end in separation or divorce, ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: The Supporting Healthy Marriage Demonstration


1
The Supporting Healthy Marriage Demonstration
2
What is the Supporting Healthy Marriage (SHM)
Demonstration?
  • National study in multiple pilot sites around the
    country The Bronx, NY Orlando, FL Kansas (two
    locations) Oklahoma City, OK Pennsylvania
    Texas (three locations) Seattle, WA Shoreline,
    WA
  • Interventions aimed at healthy marriage among
    low-income married couples
  • Rigorous evaluation conducted from 2004 to 2012
  • Created and funded by Administration for Children
    and Families

3
Who is Conducting the SHM Evaluation?
  • MDRC (Lead)
  • Abt Associates Inc.
  • Child Trends
  • Optimal Solutions Group
  • Experts in a range of fields

4
Why Marriage Education for Low-income Married
Couples?
  • Strategy for improving well-being of low-income
    children through improving parents relationships
  • We know from existing research
  • Children whose parents are married and in
    low-conflict relationships tend to do better on
    many outcomes
  • Low-income couples marriages are more likely to
    end in separation or divorce, so their children
    are less likely to experience these benefits
  • Marriage education programs can bring about
    improvements in couple relationships but we know
    little about effectiveness for low-income couples

5
Who will SHM programs serve?
  • Married couples with children
  • Adult couples
  • Spouses who both volunteer
  • Low to moderate income families
  • Families without serious family violence issues

6
What Will SHM Programs Look Like?
  • Services will be delivered over at least 12
    months to individual couples
  • SHM Program Components
  • Core Marriage Education Curriculum (3 to 5
    months)
  • Extended/Supplementary Marriage Education
    Activities (up to12 months)
  • Supplemental Services (Ongoing)

7
Core Marriage Education Curriculum
  • Multi-session 30 hour program lasting 3 to 5
    months
  • Interactive programs will use a variety of
    formats and activities
  • Common set of core topics understanding
    marriage, managing conflict, promoting positive
    connections between spouses, strengthening
    relationships beyond the couple, managing
    external circumstances, and strengthening
    parenting

8
Supplementary Marriage Education Activities
  • Offer activities to keep couples engaged so they
    continue to strengthen their relationships,
    reinforce skills, and receive help with issues
    arising in their marriages over time
  • Examples of possible activities
  • booster sessions
  • peer mentoring or peer coaching
  • one-on-one coaching
  • group social events
  • date nights
  • family activities

9
Supplemental Services
  • Encourage safe disclosure of domestic violence
    and provide linkages to appropriate services
  • Provide case management to link couples with
    range of supplemental services, such as family
    services, employment-related services, parenting
    programs, and other sources of supports
  • Follow up to ensure couples received services

10
Important Principles Guiding SHM
  • Voluntary participation
  • Focus on couples, fathers as well as mothers
  • Comprehensive and intensive intervention
  • Emphasis on healthy marriage and relationships
  • Alertness about domestic violence
  • To the extent possible reliance on research and
    program experience to shape interventions

11
What must SHM service providers do?
  • Design and implement a program consistent with
    SHM Guidelines
  • Participate in the SHM study, including using
    random assignment
  • Provide support for initial program planning.
  • Aim to recruit at least 1000 couples over 1 to 2
    years, and serve about 500 couples in the SHM
    program
  • Establish links with other social services and
    agencies

12
What Questions Will the SHM Project Answer?
  • Can marriage education improve marital quality,
    marital stability, and child well-being for
    low-income couples?
  • Who benefits the most or least from marriage
    education?
  • What makes marriage education programs work best?
    What challenges do programs face and what are
    the lessons learned?

13
Research DesignImplementation and Impacts
  • To answer these questions, SHM will conduct two
    types of research
  • Implementation Study
  • Impact Study

14
Research DesignImplementation Study
  • Key Questions
  • What did the program look like? What was the
    operating environment?
  • Who was served? What strategies were used to
    recruit, engage, and retain couples?
  • What challenges did staff face in designing and
    implementing the program?
  • Data Sources
  • Field visits - observations, interviews, focus
    groups
  • Program participation
  • Surveys

15
Research DesignImpact Study
  • Key Questions
  • What were the impacts of the program on marital
    quality and stability? Parenting behaviors? Child
    development? Familys economic outcomes?
  • What were the impacts for different subgroups?
  • Data Sources
  • Baseline Data
  • Program Participation and Service Receipt
  • Surveys

16
Research DesignImpact Study
  • Random assignment of 1000 couples to program or
    control group
  • 2 groups begin the study with similar
    characteristics
  • Program participation is main difference between
    groups
  • Differences that emerge between the 2 groups can
    be reliably attributed to SHM services (not other
    external factors)
  • Research Design measures impacts not outcomes

17
Why Random Assignment?
  • Fair and objective way of allocating resources
  • Most reliable way to assess effectiveness

18
For more information
www.supportinghealthymarriage.org
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