LONG TERM EFFECTS OF PREMARITAL INTERVENTION

为一项为期四年的纵向研究寻求资金，以进行一项大型 扩大以社区为基础的预防试验，旨在教授 婚前夫妻处理冲突的技巧。在之前的资金中 我们开发和评估了一种以经验为基础的理论 冲突管理技能培训计划(预防和 关系增强计划，PREP)在 小型对照干预试验的数量。这项提案将转移到 我们预防研究计划的下一阶段。这样做的主要目的是 建议进行更大规模的预防试验，明确定义 代表我们计划的最终目标的人口(夫妻 在美国结婚)在现有的服务提供系统中 (宗教组织)。75%的第一次婚姻发生在 在宗教组织中，其中大多数已经致力于 提供某种形式的婚前干预。因此，第二个目标是 这个项目是评估我们可以在多大程度上培训神职人员或教士 领袖们将在宗教背景下发表预备课程--背景 在那里，大多数结婚的夫妇已经得到了一些服务。由“培训” 培训师“我们利用传播中的”乘数效应“ 计划的一部分。在一定程度上，我们可以将一个成功的 社区中的离婚和痛苦预防计划，我们可以有 对高破坏性婚姻冲突发生率的重大影响 离婚和相关的心理健康问题。 为了实现这些目标，我们将随机选择180名宗教人士 组织(RO)来自一大群符合条件的RO，并且是随机的 将RO分配给以下四种情况之一：1)由受训人员提供准备 神职人员/非宗教领袖，2)由我们丹佛大学提供的准备课程 团队，3)控制注意力安慰剂的基于信息的程序 因素；4)自然发生的婚前干预服务。 结果衡量标准将扩展到典型的婚姻衡量标准之外 质量，以包括精神健康结果，我们将评估程度 每年的助推器会议可以加强预防性的维护 随着时间的推移会产生影响。

Funding is sought for a four year longitudinal study to conduct a large scale community-based prevention trial of a program designed to teach premarital couples skills for handling conflict. In earlier funding periods we developed and evaluated a theory driven, empirically-based conflict-management skill-training program (The Prevention and Relationship Enhancement Program, PREP) that has been successful in a number of small controlled intervention trials. This proposal moves to the next stage of our prevention research program. The major aim of this proposal is to conduct larger prevention trials with a clearly defined population that represents the ultimate targets for our program (couples getting married in the US) in an existing service delivery system (Religious Organizations). Seventy-five percent of first marriages occur in Religious Organizations most of which are already committed to providing some form of premarital intervention. Thus, a second aim of this project is to evaluate the extent to which we can train clergy or lay leaders to deliver the PREP program in religious settings - - settings where most couples who marry already receive some services. By "training trainers" we take advantage of an "multiplier effect" in the dissemination of the program. To the extent we can institutionalize a successful program for divorce and distress prevention in the community, we can have a major impact on the high rates of destructive marital conflict and divorce and associated mental health problems. To accomplish these aims we will randomly select 180 Religious Organizations (RO) from a larger group of eligible RO's, and randomly assign ROs to one of four conditions: 1) PREP delivered by trained clergy/lay leaders, 2) PREP delivered by our University of Denver based team, 3) An information-based program that controls for attention-placebo factors, and 4) Naturally occurring premarital intervention services. Outcome measures will be expanded beyond typical measures of marital quality, to include mental health outcomes and we will assess the extent to which yearly booster sessions can enhance the maintenance of preventive effects over time.