Alabama Community Healthy Marriage Initiative Evaluation Project for Couples

NCT ID: NCT03158714

Last Updated: 2025-02-19

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 1858 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2016-08-11
• Study Completion Date: 2020-09-29

Brief Summary

The Alabama Healthy Marriage and Relationship Education Initiative (AHMREI), a large-scale partnership among Auburn University and 9 additional implementation partners at Family Resource Centers, implements multiple program activities that respond to family needs and integrate comprehensive services to promote healthy marriages and relationships, as authorized by the Claims Resolution Act of 2010 (Pub. L. 111-291). The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of two selected couples education curricula- Elevate and Couples Connecting Mindfully. The programs are intended to improve the well-being of individuals, couples, and families in domains such as couple well-being, parenting skills, individual skills, and economic stability.

Detailed Description

In 2015, Congress provided funding for grants to provide healthy marriage and relationship services to help interested couples enhance or improve adult and family relationships. The Administration for Children and Families (ACF), within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), oversees these grants and provides supports to assist grantees in meeting their goals and objectives. To learn about the implementation and effects of these programs, Dr. Francesca Adler-Baeder at Auburn University was awarded a contract to conduct a local impact evaluation study. The evaluation includes impact and process studies for couples education curricula.

Couples who are eligible for the programs and agree to be in the study are randomly assigned to either one of two program groups (Elevate or Couples Connecting Mindfully) or a no-program control group. Program group members are offered program services; control group members are not offered those services. The impact study will examine whether the programs improve outcomes for individuals in couples and the children of the participants in the program group compared to outcomes of those in the control group. Members of both program and control groups are surveyed five times over 2 years: before they are randomly assigned, immediately after the curricula have been implemented (approximately 8 weeks later), and 6 months, 1 year, and 2 years after baseline. All surveys are administered via an online survey system, Qualtrics. The survey covers a range of questions related to couple relationships and interactions, individual functioning, parent-child interactions, co-parenting quality, and economic stability. The process aspect of the study will examine multiple aspects of the implementation and operation of the programs. Specifically, program attendance or dose, participant characteristics, facilitator-participant relationship, attitudes towards the program, and mechanisms of change will be considered in the process evaluation. Information for the process evaluation is obtained through the respondents' online surveys and facilitator/educator surveys.

Conditions

Healthy Marriage; Healthy Relationship

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: PREVENTION
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

Couples Connecting Mindfully Curriculum

Receives the Couples Connecting Mindfully curriculum over a 6 week period.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Couples Connecting Mindfully

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

ELEVATE Curriculum

Receives the ELEVATE curriculum over a 6 week period.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

ELEVATE

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Control

No programming is offered.

Group Type: NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

Interventions

Couples Connecting Mindfully

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

ELEVATE

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Other Intervention Names

CCM

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• To be eligible for the AHRMEI Couples Evaluation Project, the applicant must be part of a couple (as defined by the couple) in which both couple members are applying to the program and that: both members of the couple are 19 years of age or older, both members of the couple can attend the majority of the class offerings.

• Minimum Eligible Age: 19 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 100 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.

OTHER

Sponsor Role: collaborator

Department of Health and Human Services

FED

Sponsor Role: collaborator

Auburn University

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Francesca Adler-Baeder

Professor

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

Francesca Adler-Baeder, Ph.D.

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Auburn University

Locations

Auburn University

Auburn, Alabama, United States

Hope Place Family Resource Center

Brewton, Alabama, United States

Parents and Children Together

Decatur, Alabama, United States

The Family Success Center of Etowah County

Gadsden, Alabama, United States

Family Guidance Center

Montgomery, Alabama, United States

Sylacauga Alliance for Family Enhancement

Sylacauga, Alabama, United States

Tuscaloosa's ONE Place

Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States

Circle of Care Center for Families

Valley, Alabama, United States

IMPACT Family Counseling

Vestavia Hills, Alabama, United States

Alabama Cooperative Extension Syestem- Elmore County

Wetumpka, Alabama, United States

Countries

United States

References

Funk JL, Rogge RD. Testing the ruler with item response theory: increasing precision of measurement for relationship satisfaction with the Couples Satisfaction Index. J Fam Psychol. 2007 Dec;21(4):572-83. doi: 10.1037/0893-3200.21.4.572.

Reference Type: BACKGROUND

PMID: 18179329 (View on PubMed)

Gandek B, Ware JE, Aaronson NK, Apolone G, Bjorner JB, Brazier JE, Bullinger M, Kaasa S, Leplege A, Prieto L, Sullivan M. Cross-validation of item selection and scoring for the SF-12 Health Survey in nine countries: results from the IQOLA Project. International Quality of Life Assessment. J Clin Epidemiol. 1998 Nov;51(11):1171-8. doi: 10.1016/s0895-4356(98)00109-7.

Reference Type: BACKGROUND

PMID: 9817135 (View on PubMed)

Ware J Jr, Kosinski M, Keller SD. A 12-Item Short-Form Health Survey: construction of scales and preliminary tests of reliability and validity. Med Care. 1996 Mar;34(3):220-33. doi: 10.1097/00005650-199603000-00003.

Reference Type: BACKGROUND

PMID: 8628042 (View on PubMed)

Provided Documents

Document Type: Study Protocol and Statistical Analysis Plan

View Document

Document Type: Informed Consent Form

View Document

Other Identifiers

16-248 EP 1608

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id