Concurrent randomized control trials of the 1-year efficacy of two couple relationship education programs: ELEVATE and Couples Connecting Mindfully.

Abstract

A long-standing university-community partnership used a longitudinal randomized control trial to implement and evaluate two couple relationship education (CRE) curricula, ELEVATE and Couples Connecting Mindfully (CCM), among an economically and racially diverse population of adult couples. Married and non-married couples (n=929 couples) completed baseline surveys and were randomly assigned to either one of the two program groups or to the control group by implementation site. Follow-up surveys were collected at 2months, 6months, and 1year after baseline. Using an intent-to-treat approach, growth curve modeling comparisons of trajectories indicated program effects at 1year post-baseline in key outcome areas. Both the ELEVATE and the CCM group reported significant gains in couple relationship skills, couple quality, and family harmony over time compared to the control group that experienced either no change or declines. Further, the ELEVATE group also demonstrated positive program effects on measures of mental health and sleep quality. An assessment of the central premise of CRE indicated that the immediate post-program improvements in couple relationship skills predicted later couple quality for both program groups. This study indicates that both ELEVATE and CCM can be considered evidence-based CRE programs for use with a broad population of couples.