Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Does Therapist Guidance Enhance Assessment-Based Feedback As Couple Relationship Education?, W. Kim Halford, Raylene Chen, Keithia L. Wilson, Jeffry Larson, Dean M. Busby, Thomas Holman

Faculty Publications

Assessment and feedback of relationship strengths and challenges is a widely used brief approach to couple relationship education (CRE). It can be fully automated through the internet, with couples self-interpreting the feedback. This study assessed whether therapist guidance of couples to interpret the report and develop relationship goals enhanced the benefits of the feedback. Thirty-nine couples seeking CRE were randomly assigned to either self-interpretation of an internet-based relationship assessment report (RELATE), or therapist-guided interpretation of the same report (RELATE+). Participants were assessed on relationship satisfaction and psychological distress pre- and post-CRE, and a 6-month follow-up. RELATE and RELATE+ were not …