Testing the long-term efficacy of a prevention program for improving marital conflict in community families

a r t i c l e i n f o Family-focused prevention programs for community samples have potentially broad, clinically relevant implications but few studies have examined whether any program benefits continue to be observed over the long term. Although benefits of a marital conflict focused parent education program, the Happy Couples and Happy Kids (i.e., HCHK) program, were supported in a study based on pre-test, post-test, 6-month follow-up, and 1-year follow-up assessments, the longer-term stability of treatment effects has not been established. Couples with children between 4 and 8 years of age who had previously participated in the HCHK study completed a two-year follow-up, including a parent-only group (PO, n = 12); parent–child group (PC, n = 15); and a self-study group (SS, n = 12). Greater knowledge about the effects of marital conflict on families and behavioral improvements in constructive conflict, and specifically in problem-solving behaviors, were observed at the two-year follow-up for couples who received the HCHK program. Reflecting an innovative analysis of mediating mechanisms, change-to-change analyses showed that these changes were linked with improvements in other family processes over time, including marital satisfaction, parenting and child adjustment. The findings support the relatively long-term efficacy of brief, psychoeducational programs for educating community samples about marital conflict and family processes. The capability of marital partners to handle their disagreements is pertinent to long-term viability of marriages and the well being of all members of the family. Marital distress predicts emotional distress, depression and other psychological difficulties, and parenting efficacy (Cummings & Davies, 1994). Marital discord is also stressful to children and increases their risk for psychological maladjustment (Emery, 1982; Grych & Fincham, 1990). Because of the implications of family functioning for the well being of parents and children, prevention programs have been developed to improve family processes. However, relatively few of these programs for families targeted couples with children who are beyond infancy, and even fewer are based on empirical information for helping couples engage in more constructive conflict for the sake of the children as well as the parents tested the effectiveness of a four-session psy-choeducational program designed to foster more constructive inter-parental conflict practices. Their findings indicated that the program resulted in improvements in marital functioning, as well as improvements in other areas of family functioning, with effects lasting for about one year after completion of the program (see also Faircloth & Cummings, 2008). However, …