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. 2025 Apr 14:13:e55433.
doi: 10.2196/55433.

Exploring the Potential of a Digital Intervention to Enhance Couple Relationships (the Paired App): Mixed Methods Evaluation

Catherine Aicken  1 , Jacqui Gabb  2 , Salvatore Di Martino  3 , Tom Witney  4 , Mathijs Lucassen  5
Affiliations

Exploring the Potential of a Digital Intervention to Enhance Couple Relationships (the Paired App): Mixed Methods Evaluation

Catherine Aicken et al. JMIR Mhealth Uhealth. .

Abstract

Background: Despite the effects of poor relationship quality on individuals', couples', and families' well-being, help seeking often does not occur until problems arise. Digital interventions may lower barriers to engagement with preventive relationship care. The Paired app, launched in October 2020, aims to strengthen and enhance couple relationships. It provides daily questions, quizzes, tips, and detailed content and facilitates in-app sharing of question and quiz responses and tagged content between partners.

Objective: To explore the potential of mobile health to benefit couple relationships and how it may do this, we examined (1) Paired's impact on relationship quality and (2) its mechanisms of action.

Methods: This mixed methods evaluation invited Paired subscribers to complete (1) brief longitudinal surveys over 3 months (n=440), (2) a 30-item web-based survey (n=745), and (3) in-depth interviews (n=20). For objective 1, survey results were triangulated to determine associations between relationship quality measures and the duration and frequency of Paired use, and qualitative data were integrated to provide explanatory depth. For objective 2, mechanisms of action were explored using a dominant qualitative approach.

Results: Relationship quality improved with increasing duration and frequency of Paired use. Web-based survey data indicate that the Multidimensional Quality of Relationship Scale score (representing relationship quality on a 0-10 scale) was 35.5% higher (95% CI 31.1%-43.7%; P=.002), at 7.03, among people who had used Paired for >3 months compared to 5.19 among new users (≤1 wk use of Paired), a trend supported by the longitudinal data. Of those who had used Paired for >1 month, 64.3% (330/513) agreed that their relationship felt stronger since using the app (95% CI 60.2%-68.4%), with no or minimal demographic differences. Regarding the app's mechanisms of action, interview accounts demonstrated how it prompted and habituated meaningful communication between partners, both within and outside the app. Couples made regular times in their day to discuss the topics Paired raised. Daily questions were sometimes lighthearted and sometimes concerned topics that couples might find challenging to discuss (eg, money management). Interviewees valued the combination of fun and seriousness. It was easier to discuss challenging topics when they were raised by the "neutral" app, rather than during stressful circumstances or when broached by 1 partner. Engagement seemed to be enhanced by users' experience of relationship benefits and by the app's design.

Conclusions: This study demonstrates proof of concept, showing that Paired may have the potential to improve relationship quality over a relatively short time frame. Positive relationship practices became embedded within couples' daily routines, suggesting that relationship quality improvements might be sustained. Digital interventions can play an important role in the relationship care ecosystem. The mixed methods design enabled triangulation and integration, strengthening our findings. However, app users were self-selecting, and methodological choices impact our findings' generalizability.

Keywords: app; couple relationships; couples; digital intervention; digital technology; evaluation research; internet-based intervention; mobile phone; relationship quality; romantic relationships.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: JG completed a secondment as Chief Relationships Officer at Paired. She retained her academic and professional independence throughout this public engagement role, which was unremunerated aside from her university salary. Before the study reported here, Better Half/Paired provided a modest amount of funding to The Open University for a small-scale survey. CA worked for The Open University on a consultancy basis (10 d) on this project, under the supervision of JG and ML. All other authors declare no conflicts of interest. Furthermore, during and since this study, no authors have received funding indirectly or directly from Paired, and no authors stand to benefit or suffer financially from the success or otherwise of the Paired app.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Multidimensional Quality of Relationship Scale (MQoRS) scores by duration of Paired use (showing SDs).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Change over time in responses to the statements “I am very satisfied with how we communicate with each other” and “We communicate openly with each other.”
Figure 3
Figure 3
Change over time in response to the statement “We are able to discuss and resolve conflict.”
Figure 4
Figure 4
Change over time in responses to the statements “I feel connected with my partner emotionally” and “We enjoy a positive emotional connection.”
Figure 5
Figure 5
Change over time in response to the statement “We are comfortable with discussing our sex life (with each other).”
Figure 6
Figure 6
Multidimensional Quality of Relationship Scale (MQoRS) score by number of days using Paired in a typical week (showing SDs).
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