Using the results of 65 reports, this study examined the effect of marriage and relationship education (MRE) on couples' communication, and accounted for various moderators of this effect, including method of assessment and unit of analysis. This study is part of a comprehensive meta-analysis of MRE evaluation research conducted since 1975 (k = 124 codable reports). Overall, MRE produced modest but reliable effects on couples' communication. These effects were maintained at follow-up assessments and were not affected significantly by publication bias. No differences in effect were found for gender. Observational assessments did produce larger effects than self-report assessments. MRE produced the largest effect on positive conflict resolution outcomes. These results have important implications for research, intervention, and policy.

The pathways through which individuals learn to appraise and behave in intimate relationships greatly influence the quality and stability of their relationships. Research on intimate relationships among college students guided by a socialization framework focusing on learning and ways of viewing relationships is limited. The purpose of the present exploratory study was to examine the experiences and processes wherein young Black collegiate women learn to approach, maintain, and reflect on their intimate relationships. This topic is particularly salient to Black collegiate women who find themselves navigating unbalanced dating scenes and negotiating love relationships while balancing academic achievement and career aspirations. Ten Black, heterosexual women attending a four-year institution of higher education participated in three in-depth interviews where they shared life experiences which contributed to their understanding of intimate relationships. Using symbolic interactionism as a guiding framework allowed me to discover the multiple descriptions and meanings the participants assign to the interactions in their families, with their peers, and in their symbolic environments. The narratives shared by the women in this study revealed a number of experiences which prompted them to engage in self-reflection, critique, and learning with respect to self-identity and intimate relationships. Hearing messages, observing others, and experiencing relationships for themselves provided these women with a foundation for knowing the importance of preserving self-worth and self-identity, establishing expectations, and communicating thoughts and feelings. Implications for practice include the importance of developing specialized relationship education culturally and socially relevant to Black collegiate women, training campus professionals on the unique needs and concerns of this population, and educating parents on communicating with daughters about intimate relationship development. Future research should devote specific attention to social context, paternal-daughter relationship communication, and parental relationship modeling.

Background and objectives: Despite the large amount of research around counselling psychology and working with culture, ethnicity and religion, literature has mainly focused on clients' experiences of therapy. We know little about trainee counselling psychologists and how they experience working with clients from different ethnic and/or religious backgrounds. The objective of this study was therefore to explore UK-based trainee counselling psychologists and their experiences of working with clients from different backgrounds and to also explore educational implications trainee counselling psychologists identify when working with clients from different backgrounds. Therefore, following the aim of this study the two research questions, which will be, explored area as follows: 1. How do trainee counsellingpsychologists experience working with clients from different ethnic/religious backgrounds? and 2. What educational implications are identified by trainee counselling psychologists when working with clients from different ethnic/religious backgrounds to themselves? Method and analyses: A qualitative design was used within project. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with twelve UK-based trainee counselling psychologists who had experiences of working with clients from different ethnic/religious backgrounds. A systematic review of the literature was conducted in order to inform the research and to also produce a coding template, which was used to analyse the findings of this thesis. The interview material was analysed using thematic analysis. Analysis: The findings from the first research question revealed eight major themes, which were extracted from the coding template, these themes included: challenges, exploration, relationship, client's perspective, appropriateness, competency, sense of self and emotional responses. These eight major themes were extracted via the coding template and expanded further as the interviews were analysed. The interviews provided a richer understanding ofthese themes and they are introduced and outlined in depth in turn. Following the first researchquestion, the second research question concentrates on educational implications identified by trainee counselling psychologists. These findings yielded a total of four main themes, which included: course input, practical experience, personal experience and reflectivity. These themes are also outlined and explored further in the discussion of this thesis. Conclusions: The research enabled, for the first time, an insight into trainee counselling psychologists' reported experiences of working with clients therapeutically who were from different ethnic/religious backgrounds. Some trainee counselling psychologists reported that rather than working with clients from different backgrounds, working with clients from similar backgrounds posed to be quite difficult as well. More importantly, the idea of reflectivity and personal growth were key elements identified when working with differences in therapy. Trainees expressed that their own sense of self and personal development were key factors when working with clients from different backgrounds. The Discussion of this thesis further expanded on the findings relevant in this thesis. Finally, the Conclusion explored the implications for counselling psychology and education, additionally future considerations for research are also mentioned.

Doctor of Philosophy / School of Family Studies and Human Services / Jared R. Anderson / Marriage and relationship education (MRE) is most commonly delivered in a skills-based format that traditionally centers on teaching couples communication skills. Critiques against the current skills-development approach lead to the development and pilot-testing of an alternative self-development curriculum entitled, “Strengthen Yourself, Strengthen Your Relationships.” Guided by Bowen’s (1978) theory of differentiation, the current study randomly assigned forty couples to the self-development (differentiation) curriculum condition or to a relationship assessment plus feedback condition. Repeated measures ANOVA’s, independent samples t-tests, and regressions were used to analyze the data from pre- to post-test (5 weeks), post-test to follow-up (4 weeks), and pre-test to follow-up (9 weeks). Statistical analyses indicate that women responded more favorably to the feedback condition in terms of differentiation, relationship self-regulation, and problem solving, whereas men responded more favorably to the curriculum condition in terms of relationship self-regulation. Feedback about the curriculum was gathered from participants and was received favorably. Implications from the study suggest that both approaches may have unique value for couples receiving relationship education. Future research should further develop and evaluate the self-development approach in MRE.

Past research has shown how personality characteristics and demographics influence the likelihood of couples and individuals participating in marital interventions. However, these studies do not focus on the factors that influence men’s participation and are limited to their respective sample frames, making them difficult to generalize to a population. A nationally representative, population-level study of newlywed males may help to provide more generalizable insights regarding the factors that influence men’s participation in marital interventions. The current study had two purposes. First, this study sought to examine the personality and demographic factors that influenced the likelihood of men participating in a variety of marital interventions. Second, this study attempted to provide a demographic description of men who participated in marital interventions. A sample of 2,150 men were drawn from a nationally representative random probability sample known as the CREATE survey. Binary and multinomial logistic regression analyses were used to address the research questions. A total of three factors were found to be influential in the likelihood of men participating in marital interventions – religiosity, depressive symptoms, race/ethnicity. This study provides an in-depth view as to how men’s religiosity largely influenced the likelihood of them participating in marital interventions, nationwide. Such conclusions have valuable potential to help practitioners understand, in detail, how men’s religiosity may influence men to participate in marital interventions.

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Sexual mindfulness has been shown to improve couple's relationship and sexual satisfaction. Mindfulness research has mostly been conducted with White participants, largely leaving out the perspectives of diverse participants. This study piloted an online culturally-adapted version of the Sexual Mindfulness Project with Black and interracial couples (N=26 heterosexual individuals in a committed relationship from three different continents; age range 23€“44) to understand the program's acceptability and impacts. Qualitative interviews and quantitative surveys showed that couples enjoyed the program and experienced positive relational and sexual impacts post-intervention, including improved relationship satisfaction, sexual satisfaction, communication, and sexual mindfulness. Implications to improve the program curriculum and delivery are discussed.

Thesis ( M.Dev.) -- University of Limpopo, 2013 / In 2010, the Development Facilitation and Training Institute (DevFTI) (University of Limpopo) embarked on the process of expanding the Sex and Relationships Education Programme, Boys 2 Men as part of its projects. During the process, it became apparent that there was a need to evaluate the implementation process of the B2M programme by CBOs in the selected district municipalities in the Limpopo Province. The B2M project is a programme that was first put into place in 2000 as one of the ways of addressing issues of sex and relationships education for young men in especially rural areas that have limited access to such programmes. To evaluate this programme, this current study intended to explore enabling and/or hindering factors as well as experiences of trained facilitators in the implementation of the B2M programme. A qualitative case study research design was conducted using semi-structured face-to-face group interviews. As the targeted population was small a census was used (i.e. total sample =24). Content analysis method was used, looking at themes given by respondents to highlight the facilitating and/or hindering factors as well as experiences of the trained facilitators during the implementation of the B2M programme. The results indicated that, amongst others, the significant enabling factors for implementation included support by the community, host CBO and university partners; availability of facilitation material as well as infrastructural and financial support. Whilst, the significant hindering factors included lack of finance; lack of interest from the host CBOs, limited resources; and unclear terms of reference. Based on the results, it was therefore recommended that the programme set clear and specific terms of reference; facilitators be given tokens of appreciation; clear monitoring and evaluation tools be put into place; sufficient support be provided by university partners continuously; funding that is specific for the implementation of this programme be sought so as not to drain CBO financial and manpower resources; and work with facilitators and CBOs that have interest in issues that are almost similar to those that are addressed by the B2M programme. From the research results it could be concluded that this programme is valuable and it is therefore important to consider continuing with it provided that the above recommendations are considered in future implementation

This is a qualitative essay that deals with students' experience of primary school sex andrelationship education. The purpose was to gain new knowledge into how students in theirfirst year of high school experienced primary school sex education about sexuality, consentand relationships in terms of both its form and content, with a hope to contribute knowledgethat may be relevant to the school's actors who from 2022 will implement new curriculumchanges. The subjects we have chosen are students who are in their first year of uppersecondary school and have a relatively recent and clear picture of the teaching they receivedfrom primary school. To collect our data, we used a qualitative method of focus groupinterviews that were recorded and transcribed. The data has been analyzed with the help ofPeter L. Berger and Thomas Luckmann’s socialization theory and Judith Butler's queertheory, as well as five articles with previous research. The results of our study reveal, asdescribed in background and previous research, a failure to provide an education that isadapted to today's societies problems and youth culture. Specifically there is a lack ofconversation and up-to-date knoledge about LGBTQ identities, the course literature'spresentation of heteronormativity and the teacher's need for competence development andinterpretation of the curriculum's content in this subject. There was also a lack of deeperdiscussions regarding relationships, feelings, consent and desire, and a greater participationand engagement in the teaching was desired.

Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS) Extension faculty members are increasingly involved in offering couple and relationship education (CRE), but some have limited background in this format of family life education. This study used a phenomological approach to examine the experiences of Extension faculty members who offered CRE in their respective counties for their first time. Data were collected through face-to-face and telephone interviews. Four themes emerged from the interview data. First, considerations for offering this type of education included valuing CRE, having sufficient and specific knowledge about the needs of the county for CRE, and access to other forms of resources (mentors, previous training, or funding). Second, successes were discussed in terms of creating positive partnerships, successful recruitment strategies, and resources (utilization of funds and getting trained in CRE for the event). Third, faculty members described challenges including a lack of partnerships, limited resources, recruitment struggles, and lack of sufficient funds. Fourth, the reflections from the faculty members included plans and changes for future programming as faculty members reflected back on their actual experiences. These findings provide guidance for Extension faculty members with limited experience who are interested in offering CRE.