Non-relative foster caregivers’ changes in mindfulness and couple relationship skills following relationship education

Abstract

Foster caregivers experience many challenges related to fostering which, for those in a committed couple relationship, may impact the health of that relationship. Recent efforts have been made to provide couple relationship education (CRE) to foster caregivers to provide them with the knowledge and skills to develop and maintain a healthy relationship with their partner amidst the challenges of fostering. Further, recent studies have begun to examine changes in other skills that may hinder or promote changes in couple relationship skills following participation in CRE programs. One such parallel process may be changes in mindfulness, which may promote or hinder change in couple relationship skills following a CRE program. Guided by adult learning theory and utilizing a repeated measures actor-partner interdependence model (RM-APIM), the current study aims to examine foster caregiver couples’ change in relationship skills after participating in the CRE program ELEVATE and to examine how changes in mindfulness may moderate change in couple relationship skills. Findings suggest that both men and women report significant improvements in both mindfulness and couple relationship skills following participation in ELEVATE and that change in mindfulness moderates change in couple relationship skills for women.