An Evaluation of the ELEVATE Program for Couples: Considering Vulnerabilities and Relationship Length

• Published date: 01 February 2021
• Author: Julianne McGill,Francesca Adler‐Baeder,Chelsea Garneau‐Rosner
• Date: 01 February 2021
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12502

J MG  F A-BAuburn University

C G-RUniversity of Missouri–Columbia

An Evaluation of the ELEVATE Program

for Couples: Considering Vulnerabilities

and Relationship Length

Objectives: This study investigates the effects

of a new research-informed couple relationship

education (CRE) curriculum, ELEVATE, in a

diverse sample of 300 adults.

Methods: Using a quasi-experimental design

and propensity score adjustments, change tra-

jectories were compared over a 6-month period

with multilevel growth-curve modeling. Vari-

ations in outcomes based on income, family

harmony, and relationship length were also

explored.

Results: Results indicate sustained program

effects of ELEVATE over 6months in four of

the nine target outcomes (intimate knowledge

of partner, social connections, conict manage-

ment skills, and couple relationship quality).

Participants experiencing more stressful family

contexts at baseline experience a greateramount

of change in intentionality, developing a couple

identity, use of caring behaviors, relationship

quality, and depressive symptoms. Participants

in more established relationships experienced

greater change in conict management skills

and relationship quality. Participants with

higher levels of income experienced greater

Department of Human Development and Family Studies,

203 Spidle Hall, Auburn,AL 36849 (mclanjm@auburn.edu).

Key Words: couple relationship education, community edu-

cation, evaluation, prevention science.

change in developing a couple identity and

social connections.

Conclusion: These ndings evidence several

positive program effects for the ELEVATE pro-

gram for a broad group of participants and also

reveal some distinctions in change patterns for

subgroups.

Implications: This research provides informa-

tion relevant to the developmentof best practices

for CRE in diverse communities.

Couple relationship education (CRE) curricula

have been implemented over the past several

decades, with many studies showing that a wide

range of curricula have benetted couples in

the short term by enhancing relationship skills

that are associated with healthy relationships

(Hawkins et al., 2008; Hawkins & Ooms, 2012;

Markman & Rhoades, 2012). These include

interpersonal competencies, such as communi-

cation and conict management skills (Gottman

& Silver, 1999; Reardon-Anderson et al., 2005),

as well as commitment and forgiveness (Fin-

cham et al., 2007). In addition to enhancing indi-

cators of relationship health, studies indicate that

CRE curricula can improve relationship qual-

ity or satisfaction (Adler-Baeder et al., 2010;

Hawkins et al., 2008) and have been asso-

ciated with preventing relationship dissolution

and distress (Carroll & Doherty, 2003; Stanley

et al., 2010).

Family Relations 70 (February 2021): 327–351327

DOI:10.1111/fare.12502

328 Family Relations

Until the past decade, however, studies of

CRE predominantly used smaller, homogenous

samples of high-functioning participants (e.g.,

Schilling et al., 2003; Stanley et al., 2010). As

offerings have increased and broadened, mostly

owing to recent CRE demonstration programs

funded by the U.S. government (Administra-

tion for Children and Families, 2005), there is

evidence suggesting that relationally vulner-

able (i.e., considering divorce or separation),

ethnically diverse, and economically diverse

individuals and couples are attending CRE pro-

grams. Findings from studies in the last decade

present more mixed results regarding benets

and positive treatment effects of CRE (e.g.,

DeMaria, 2005; Halford et al., 2006; Hawkins

& Erikson, 2015; Hawkins & Fackrell, 2010;

Hsueh et al., 2012; Wood et al., 2014). As

such, there has been some debate among schol-

ars regarding the utility of providing CRE

for low-income participants (e.g., Cowan &

Cowan, 2014; Hawkins, 2014; Johnson, 2014).

Overall, it seems clear that CRE work with more

diverse populations is in its infancy and much

has yet to be learned regarding efcacy and best

practices.

There are still few recent studies using larger,

diverse samples of CRE participants that include

a comparison group and include follow-up

assessment beyond immediate post-program

(Hawkins & Erickson, 2015; Markman &

Rhoades, 2012). Additionally, few CRE studies

have measured improvements beyond rela-

tionship satisfaction, communication skills,

and conict management skills and assessed

change in other pertinent program content areas.

Further, there is increased call for studies of

specic curricula, mindful that content and

program design may differ. There also is limited

consideration of variations in outcomes based

on participant characteristics (Lucier-Greer

et al., 2014; Markman & Rhoades, 2012;

Wadsworth & Markman, 2012). With greater

diversity of CRE participants than previously

utilized and larger samples in evaluation studies,

it is increasingly difcult to understand who is

the “average” participant and program expe-

riences may be masked (for better or worse)

for subgroups in the sample. We situate our

study within these gaps in the CRE evaluation

literature in an effort to provide practitioners,

researchers, and curriculum developers with

information on participants experiences in a

newly-developed CRE curriculum that may be

relevant for best practices in the evolving work

of implementing CRE in diverse communities.

The ELEVATE Program

It is essential that community education

curricula be “research-based,” that is, that

the content is explicitly grounded in sound

research evidence empirically linking the pro-

gram topics to desired outcomes (Futris &

Adler-Baeder, 2013). An important next step

for research-based curricula is to move toward

becoming evidence-based, which involves

empirically testing the effects of its implemen-

tation (Markman & Rhoades, 2012).

ELEVATE: Taking Your Relationship to

the Next Level (Futris et al., 2015) is a free

research-based curriculum intended for gen-

eral audiences of couples. The curriculum

was explicitly built on the National Extension

Relationship and Marriage Education Model

(NERMEM; Futris & Adler-Baeder, 2013).

NERMEM works as a guide for selecting

or developing research-based content to be

included in CRE. The model was derived from

a thematic coding of several decades of research

on predictors of marital quality and stability

and consists of seven core principles or skills

for healthy couple relationships. Each module

in the ELEVATE curriculum is focused on one

of the seven NERMEM components: self-care,

choose,know,care,share,manage, and connect.

More specically, the introduction to the cur-

riculum includes an overview of the keyrelation-

ship skills and, because of the growing evidence

linking physiology and behaviors in relation-

ships (Timmons et al., 2015), includes an empha-

sis on the mind–body–behavior connection. In

the second module focused on self-care, partic-

ipants learn of the reciprocal nature of overall

individual wellness (e.g., physical, spiritual, sex-

ual, emotional, and social health) and relational

health and methods for recognizing and manag-

ing stress. The third module focuses on choose:

skills for demonstrating intentionality and effort

in prioritizing the relationship. The fourth mod-

ule centers on know: the development of skills

for building and maintaining understanding and

intimate knowledge between partners. The fth

module focuses on care: demonstrating kind-

ness, respect, and positivity towardone’s partner.

The sixth module emphasizes share, featuring

skills for building and maintaining a friendship

between partners and fostering a shared couple