Preventing marital distress through communication and conflict management training: A 4- and 5-year follow-up.

TLDR

The Prevention and Relationship Enhancement Program (PREP) is a five‑session intervention that teaches couples communication and conflict‑management skills, and the study discusses selection effects, change mechanisms, and future directions for prevention research. The study evaluates the 4‑ and 5‑year outcomes of the PREP marital distress prevention program. At five years, couples who received PREP showed higher positive and lower negative communication and reduced marital violence compared with controls, and data on program decliners are also reported.

Abstract

This article reports the 4- and 5-year follow-up results of evaluating the effects of a marital distress prevention program. The program, Prevention and Relationship Enhancement Program (PREP), is a 5-session program designed to teach couples effective communication and conflict management skills. At the 5-year follow-up, intervention, as compared with control, couples had higher levels of positive and lower levels of negative communication skills and lower levels of marital violence. Data are also presented on couples who declined the program. Issues are discussed concerning selection effects, change mechanisms, and future directions for prevention research.