Many divorcing persons turn to treatment programs hoping for assistance in
managing the process of divorce. Treatment programs include individual as well as
group process models. One of the goals of most group process programs is to
generate peer support which in turn is hoped to facilitate the process of divorce
adjustment. Evaluations of such programs are few and limited.
This study is an evaluation of a group process divorce adjustment
intervention entitled, Divorce Recovery Workshop. This intervention includes
education and support components. Two different methods of workshop delivery
are compared and analyzed to determine the influence of support on the process of
divorce adjustment. One method includes a small group component, the other does
not. This workshop, offered during 1992/3, drew participants from the greater
Salem, Oregon area who had recently divorced.
This study examines four areas of divorce adjustment, comparing the two
methods of workshop delivery, as well as participant experiences of support. These
four included depression, degree of control, self-esteem, and persistence of
attachment. Participants were administered pre-workshop and post-workshop
questionnaires.
Standardized measures included the Center for Epidemiological Studies
Depression Scale (Radloff, 1977), the Rosenberg Scale (Rosenberg, 1965) for
assessing self-esteem, and the Acceptance of Marital Termination Scale (Thompson
and Spanier, 1983). Nonstandardized measures included the Degree of Control
After Divorce Scale, the Support List adapted from a social support measure
(Bengtson and Mangen, 1988), the Support Scale adapted from a medical
intervention peer support measure (Pratt, 1984), and a brief Satisfaction with
Support Scale.
This evaluation revealed positive outcomes for participants in the four areas
of divorce adjustment regardless of method of program delivery. Participants also
showed increased experiences of support attributable to the intervention.
However, additional research is needed to establish the relationship between
support and divorce adjustment. The lack of a control group should lead to caution
to generalizing these results. / Graduation date: 1994
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ORGSU/oai:ir.library.oregonstate.edu:1957/35329 |
| Date | 03 May 1994 |
| Creators | Bearden, Stephen R. |
| Contributors | Zvonkovic, Anisa M. |
| Source Sets | Oregon State University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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