The marriage moments program for couples transitioning to parenthood: divergent conclusions from formative and outcome evaluation data

Abstract

This article presents the results of a pilot study of the Marriage Moments program, designed to prevent relationship deterioration during the 1st year of parenthood. The self-guided, low-intensity program emphasizes strengthening marital virtues and partnership during this time of significant personal and family transition. One hundred fifty-five married couples participated in a randomized clinical trial with 2 psychoeducational treatment groups (a self-guided group and an instructor-encouraged group) and a comparable control group. Despite positive formative evaluation results from program participants, hierarchical linear modeling analyses failed to find significant Group x Time differences on spouses' reports of marital virtues and a set of relational outcome measures. This failure reinforces the need for psychoeducators to invest in outcome evaluation research before claiming program success.