The Supporting Healthy Marriage Demonstration

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The Supporting Healthy Marriage Demonstration
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What is the Supporting Healthy Marriage (SHM)
Demonstration?

• National study in multiple pilot sites around the
  country The Bronx, NY Orlando, FL Kansas (two
  locations) Oklahoma City, OK Pennsylvania
  Texas (three locations) Seattle, WA Shoreline,
  WA
• Interventions aimed at healthy marriage among
  low-income married couples
• Rigorous evaluation conducted from 2004 to 2012
• Created and funded by Administration for Children
  and Families

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Who is Conducting the SHM Evaluation?

• MDRC (Lead)
• Abt Associates Inc.
• Child Trends
• Optimal Solutions Group
• Experts in a range of fields

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Why Marriage Education for Low-income Married
Couples?

• Strategy for improving well-being of low-income
  children through improving parents relationships
• We know from existing research
• Children whose parents are married and in
  low-conflict relationships tend to do better on
  many outcomes
• Low-income couples marriages are more likely to
  end in separation or divorce, so their children
  are less likely to experience these benefits
• Marriage education programs can bring about
  improvements in couple relationships but we know
  little about effectiveness for low-income couples

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Who will SHM programs serve?

• Married couples with children
• Adult couples
• Spouses who both volunteer
• Low to moderate income families
• Families without serious family violence issues

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What Will SHM Programs Look Like?

• Services will be delivered over at least 12
  months to individual couples
• SHM Program Components
• Core Marriage Education Curriculum (3 to 5
  months)
• Extended/Supplementary Marriage Education
  Activities (up to12 months)
• Supplemental Services (Ongoing)

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Core Marriage Education Curriculum

• Multi-session 30 hour program lasting 3 to 5
  months
• Interactive programs will use a variety of
  formats and activities
• Common set of core topics understanding
  marriage, managing conflict, promoting positive
  connections between spouses, strengthening
  relationships beyond the couple, managing
  external circumstances, and strengthening
  parenting

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Supplementary Marriage Education Activities

• Offer activities to keep couples engaged so they
  continue to strengthen their relationships,
  reinforce skills, and receive help with issues
  arising in their marriages over time
• Examples of possible activities
• booster sessions
• peer mentoring or peer coaching
• one-on-one coaching
• group social events
• date nights
• family activities

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Supplemental Services

• Encourage safe disclosure of domestic violence
  and provide linkages to appropriate services
• Provide case management to link couples with
  range of supplemental services, such as family
  services, employment-related services, parenting
  programs, and other sources of supports
• Follow up to ensure couples received services

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Important Principles Guiding SHM

• Voluntary participation
• Focus on couples, fathers as well as mothers
• Comprehensive and intensive intervention
• Emphasis on healthy marriage and relationships
• Alertness about domestic violence
• To the extent possible reliance on research and
  program experience to shape interventions

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What must SHM service providers do?

• Design and implement a program consistent with
  SHM Guidelines
• Participate in the SHM study, including using
  random assignment
• Provide support for initial program planning.
• Aim to recruit at least 1000 couples over 1 to 2
  years, and serve about 500 couples in the SHM
  program
• Establish links with other social services and
  agencies

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What Questions Will the SHM Project Answer?

• Can marriage education improve marital quality,
  marital stability, and child well-being for
  low-income couples?
• Who benefits the most or least from marriage
  education?
• What makes marriage education programs work best?
  What challenges do programs face and what are
  the lessons learned?

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Research DesignImplementation and Impacts

• To answer these questions, SHM will conduct two
  types of research
• Implementation Study
• Impact Study

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Research DesignImplementation Study

• Key Questions
• What did the program look like? What was the
  operating environment?
• Who was served? What strategies were used to
  recruit, engage, and retain couples?
• What challenges did staff face in designing and
  implementing the program?
• Data Sources
• Field visits - observations, interviews, focus
  groups
• Program participation
• Surveys

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Research DesignImpact Study

• Key Questions
• What were the impacts of the program on marital
  quality and stability? Parenting behaviors? Child
  development? Familys economic outcomes?
• What were the impacts for different subgroups?
• Data Sources
• Baseline Data
• Program Participation and Service Receipt
• Surveys

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Research DesignImpact Study

• Random assignment of 1000 couples to program or
  control group
• 2 groups begin the study with similar
  characteristics
• Program participation is main difference between
  groups
• Differences that emerge between the 2 groups can
  be reliably attributed to SHM services (not other
  external factors)
• Research Design measures impacts not outcomes

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Why Random Assignment?

• Fair and objective way of allocating resources
• Most reliable way to assess effectiveness

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For more information
www.supportinghealthymarriage.org