The Effectiveness of the Within Our Reach Relationship Education Program for Couples: Findings from a Federal Randomized Trial

• Date: 01 December 2015
• Published date: 01 December 2015
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/famp.12148
• Author: Galena K. Rhoades

The Effectiveness of the Within Our Reach

Relationship Education Program for Couples:

Findings from a Federal Randomized Trial

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GALENA K. RHOADES*

This study examined the effectiveness of a couple-based relationship education program,

Within Our Reach. Secondary data (n=3,609) were analyzed from the federal Supporting

Healthy Marriage project. Couples were randomly assigned to receive Within Our Reach and

associated services or to a no-treatment (treatment-as-usual) control group. Those assigned to

Within Our Reach reported better couple and individual outcomes on 8 of 12 outcomes mea-

sured (MES =.15) at the 12-month follow-up and 6 of 10 outcomes measured at the 30-month

follow-up (MES =.14), including higher relationship happiness, more warmth and support,

more positive communication, less negative behavior and emotion, less psychological abuse,

less physical assault (for men), lower psychological distre ss (for women), and less infidelity.

They were also less likely to report that their marriage was in trouble than those assigned to

the control group. These effects were generally small in size and many were replicated across

the two follow-ups. There were no significant differences between those assigned to Within

Our Reach versus control on cooperative parenting, severe psychological assault, or percent

married. Implications for future research, programming, and policy are discussed.

Keywords: Relationship Education; Marriage; Prevention; Community-Based;

Effectiveness

Fam Proc 54:672–685, 2015

The quality of romantic relationships is linked with a host of other indices of adult

well-being, from depression (Whisman & Bruce, 1999) to mortality (Robles, Slatcher,

Trombello, & McGinn, 2014) as well as child outcomes, from low birth weight (Wiencrot,

Nannini, Manning, & Kennelly, 2012) to problems in children’s own later romantic

relationships (Whitton, Rhoades, Stanley, & Markman, 2008). Because of the high costs of

relationship distress for adults, children, and society, interest in the prevention of rela-

tionship distress has increased in the past decade; 44% of couples now receive some form

of relationship education before they marry (Stanley, Amato, Johnson, & Markman, 2006)

and the U.S. government is supporting programs aimed at increasing relationship quality

and stability (e.g., the Healthy Families Initiative through the Administration for

Children and Families).

Survey research suggests that couples who receive premarital relationship education

are less likely to divorce (Stanley et al., 2006). Further, meta-analyses confirm that in

pre-post and randomized clinical trial studies, relationship education results in improved

communication and, to a slightly lesser degree, improved relationship satisfaction

*Psychology Department, University of Denver, Denver, CO.

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Galena K. Rhoades, Psychology Depart-

ment, University of Denver, 2155 S Race St, Denver, CO 80208-3500. E-mail: grhoades@du.edu

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Galena Rhoades is a co-author of the Within Our Reach curriculum and receives royalties from PREP,

Inc., the company that distributes it.

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Family Process, Vol. 54, No. 4, 2015 ©2015 Family Process Institute

doi: 10.1111/famp.12148