Web-Based Marriage Education for Foster, Kinship, and Adoptive Couples

描述（由申请人提供）：所有婚姻中有一半以离婚告终，还有许多人经历了一段时间的急性压力。这对夫妻和孩子的影响是巨大的。在这方面的干预努力越来越侧重于婚姻教育；也就是说，教会夫妻社交技巧，调整期望，以避免消极的沟通模式，这些模式会随着时间的推移侵蚀关系的满意度。预防和关系增强计划，或PREP，是该领域的一个领先的基于经验的计划。该方案还经过调整，适用于对婚姻期望与环境和/或价值观密切相关的特殊人群。研究人员一致认为，培训必须根据宗教价值观、社会经济地位和军队生活等不同群体分别进行。另一个庞大而独特的群体是养父母、亲属父母和养父母。这些夫妇在婚姻中承受着巨大的压力：试图管理非常不安的孩子行为，与护理系统打交道，与亲生父母有关，以及对不同类型家庭的看法。婚姻的稳定对于维持孩子的安置也是至关重要的。我们建议开发一个交互式的基于网络的PREP版本，专门针对这一人群的需求和挑战。在第一阶段，我们将开发关于识别人际关系中的沟通模式的培训的第一讲。除了多媒体培训外，该模块还将包括交互式评估部分和交互式教练日志。本单元将以寄养、亲属关系和收养夫妇的全国样本进行测试，以衡量关系中的沟通模式、内容知识和关系信心。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Half of all marriages end in divorce and many others suffer periods of acute stress. The impact on couples and children is substantial. Intervention efforts in this area are increasingly focusing on marital education; that is, teaching couples social-communication skills and attuning expectations to avoid the negative communication patterns that tend to erode satisfaction in the relationship over time. Prevention and Relationship Enhancement Program, or PREP, is a leading empirically-based program in this area. The program has also been adapted for use with special populations for whom marriage expectations are closely linked to circumstances and/or values. Researchers agree that training must separately address groups based on, for example, religious values, socioeconomic status, and military life. Another large and unique group is foster, kinship, and adoptive parents. These couples are subjected to extraordinary stressors on their marriage: trying to manage very disturbed child behavior, dealing with the care system, relating to birth parents, and perceptions of being a different type of family. The stability of the marriage is also critical to maintaining the placement of the child. We propose developing an interactive Web-based version of PREP that specifically addresses the needs and challenges of this population. In Phase I we will develop the first lecture of the training on recognizing communication patterns in relationships. In addition to the multimedia training, the module will include an interactive assessment component and an interactive coaching journal. The unit will be tested with a national sample of foster, kinship, and adoptive couples on measures of patterns of communication in relationships, content knowledge, and relationship confidence.