Lessons From the Field: Developing a Multisite Divorce Education Evaluation Tool

• Published date: 01 December 2021
• Author: Melinda Stafford Markham,Anthony J. Ferraro,Luke T. Russell,Jonathon J. Beckmeyer,McKenzie L. Zimmermann,Erin Guyette,Hilary D. Pippert
• Date: 01 December 2021
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12575

M S M A J. FKansas State University

L T. RIllinois State University

J J. BWest Virginia University

MK L. ZKansas State University

E GUniversity of Minnesota

H D. PAuburn University

Lessons From the Field: Developing a Multisite

Divorce Education Evaluation Tool

Objective: In this Lessons from the Field, we

describe the lessons we learned from devel-

oping the Divorce Education Assessment Col-

laborative (DEAC) and creating a longitudinal

evaluation plan for divorce education programs

across geographically, programmatically, and

format-diverse programs.

Background: Although divorce education pro-

grams are commonly mandated for divorcing

parents, variability in program content, format,

and design can make it difcult to determine the

efcacy of such programs. We contend develop-

ing a standardized evaluation tool, and making

it freely available to programs, is essential for

identifying best practices and moderators of pro-

gram effectiveness.

Experience: Members of the DEAC share

their experiences and insights regarding suc-

cesses and challenges in coordinating and

collaborating to develop an evaluation tool

that is concise, but provides key information

Kansas State University (mmarkham@ksu.edu).

KeyWords: Divorce,divorce education, program evaluation.

about program effectiveness and participants’

program experiences.

Conclusion: Identifying and bringing together

an idea champion, invested stakeholders, and

critical resources (e.g.,seed funding, teleconfer-

encing, document collaboration software) were

key components in the development of an effec-

tive multisite divorce education evaluation tool.

Implications: The strategies used to develop the

DEAC may serve as a model for collaborative

projects that bridge practice and research.

With approximately 800,000 divorces occurring

in the United States each year (Centers for

Disease Control and Prevention, CDC, n.d.),

numerous parents experience the transition of

parenting their children from separate homes.

Divorce education programs and resources were

initially developed in the late 1970s as a way

to help divorcing parents navigate the transi-

tion by encouraging collaboration and minimiz-

ing the innate adversarial nature of the legal

divorce process (Bowers et al., 2011; Salem

et al., 2013). The increased prevalence of these

programs over the past few decades is reective

of larger societal concern regarding the effectsof

Family Relations 70 (December 2021): 1657–16631657

DOI:10.1111/fare.12575