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Marriage Program Start-up

The decision to start a healthy marriage program is a big one. It requires a lot of preparation and work prior to offering any classes for couples. We understand that new programs want to get their programs up and running as quickly as possible. However, it is important to those who have gone before you to lay a strong foundation before you can build a successful program.

This section will walk you through the stages of:

• How to identify the needs of your population.
• Design your program.
• Identify resources for staff development and management.
• Identify and build relationships with community partners.
• Start up marketing and recruitment.
• Identify what works and what does not.
• Determine how to maximize your efforts to make sure the program is built on a solid foundation.

Finally, this section also addresses program management and evaluation issues to help you track the effectiveness and quality of your program.

Topics on this Page:

• Conducting a Needs Assessment
• Choosing Program Activities
• Location
• Recruitment

Conducting a Needs Assessment

According to Powell and Cassidy (2001) there are three main components to a needs assessment: 1) ask, 2) study, and 3) observe.

1. Ask
   • To conduct your investigation of the needs of your group, you must first seek permission to conduct an assessment. For example, if you are holding a group at a local church, you may talk to the minister about the assessment you are conducting. This keeps the minister informed and it can also be a way for you to get some help from someone who has an "in."
   • The next part of asking involves going directly to the people who are potential members of the program you are designing. For example, talking with employees at their work setting, speaking with students at their school, college, or university, or visiting a health care organization and speaking with patients. This helps you to learn what participants really want and what will keep them interested and active in the program. Also, it shows that you care enough to make it meaningful for your participants. Specific types of assessments are discussed in the "Assessment Techniques" section.
2. Study
   • Research and read about the group of people you will be serving. Get to know their culture as much as possible. The more time and energy you put into this, the more you will know your audience and the more they will be able to respond to and connect with you. Possible places of study include the library, the bookstore, the internet, or other unique settings specific to the group you are serving. Also, if you know of anyone else who has studied the group you are researching, get in touch with them to ask them questions.
3. Observe
   • This is not just a passive activity. Observing requires active involvement in the group with which you will be teaching. You must try to gain greater perspective of what it is like to be in the shoes of the people you are teaching in order to satisfy their needs. For example, if you are teaching a group of newlyweds and you have been married for many years or have never been married, you might find a newlywed couple and ask to spend some time with them in their home observing their interactions or invite a group of them for a picnic or dinner to see how they relate with one another.

Assessment Techniques

When choosing which needs assessment technique you will use, consider how much time you have to devote to the needs assessment, how much time your participants have, the context you and your participants are in, and the resources available to you. Whatever technique you choose to use should be based on what is best for the group you will be serving. Remember that it is important to continually assess the needs of the participants throughout each stage of your program, not just in the beginning.

• Focus Group: a small group of potential participants in your marriage education program
  • Allows for interaction between potential participants rather than just between the educator and the participants.
  • Group process may be able to generate feedback and ideas that could not happen in any other way due to the synergistic quality of a group.
  • Allows the facilitator to help them to talk about any needs and concerns they might have related to your marriage education program.
  • If a focus group is used at the end of a program for program evaluation, the educator should not be a part of the group so participants will feel free to speak their mind regarding the evaluation of your program.
• Interviews:
  • Can be done in person or over the phone.
  • Can be helpful for those that struggle to speak in group formats.
  • Sending an outline of the interview questions before doing the interview can help interviewees have more to offer in the interview.
  • You could also interview professionals who work with your target group (therapists, ministers, social workers, professors, etc).
  • About 10% of the target participant group would be a good sample.
  • Can be a time consuming process.
• Questionnaire:
  • Might provide information focus groups and interviews are not able due to the privacy of a questionnaire.
  • Should be easy to read and understand.
  • Should be as short as possible while still getting exactly what you need.
  • Better return rate if they are filled out in the presence of the interviewer (during the first marriage education class). If they are mailed out or left somewhere for people to fill out when they get to them, not many people will complete them.
  • This method may be used over and over again throughout the marriage education class so the educator can have a good feel for the specific needs of the participants.

References

Powell, L.H., & Cassidy, D. (2001). Family Life Education: An Introduction. Mayfield Publishing Company: London.

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Choosing program activities

What will your marriage education program teach and what do you hope the participants leave your program having learned? At this point, you will either decide on an existing marriage education program curriculum or develop your own. Regardless of your preference, there are a few things to consider that will help guide your decision-making.

Things to consider when choosing curriculum

Personal philosophy and interest – there are some personal reasons or values that interested you in marriage education. It is important to do what you like, what interests you, and what you believe in. If you compromise in your choice of curriculum, it will show in your ability to connect with your audience.

Style and manner of the education program – How will the program be taught and presented.

• Workshops, seminars, retreats.
• High school, college, and community courses.
• Lectures and speeches.
• Distribution of video and audio tapes, CDs, and DVDs.
• Web sites.
• Books, magazines, pamphlets, news articles, and newsletters.

Intensity of program – engaging couples in weekend-long retreats, where deep levels of conflict and personal issues are addressed is much more intense than presenting a one hour communication seminar for intimate relationships. The level of intensity with which you are comfortable should be considered when deciding how intense you want your program curriculum to be.

Specific content of marriage education program – what will be taught? The following are several content area examples covered in existing marriage education programs.

• Good Communication.
• Effective Problem Solving Skills.
• Expectations about Marriage.
• Commitment to Marriage.
• Couple and Family Finances.
• Role Allocation Decisions (e.g., housework and child care).
• Effectively Balancing Individual Needs and Couplehood.
• Domestic Violence Awareness.

Timing – at what point in the couple's development do you plan to teach them?

• Marriage preparation.
• Marriage enrichment for couples expecting a child.
• Remarriage education.
• Aging and retirement marital education.
• General marriage enrichment for any couples.

Choosing an existing marriage education curriculum

Some marriage educators chose to use marriage education programs that have already been developed and evaluated. Search our library for existing marriage curricula.

Developing your own marriage education curriculum

If marriage educators decide to develop their own marriage education curriculum, there are several items that must be considered in order for their program to be effective.

• Decide on the goals and objectives of a future program.
• Determine if your future program goals, plans and activities are different and unique enough from existing marriage education programs to devote the time to develop a new one. It will take time and energy to develop a program from scratch.
• Consider the needs of your audience before developing a new program or selecting an existing program. What are the expectations of those planning to attend? Learn more about conducting a needs assessment.

References

Powell, L.H., & Cassidy, D. (2001). Family Life Education: An Introduction. Mayfield Publishing Company: London.

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Location

Location refers to the place your marriage education program will be held. Some locations may require a space rental fee, while other locations within a community may not.

Possible locations

• Schools, colleges, and universities.
• Religious organizations.
• Mental health organizations.
• Neighborhood and family resource centers (e.g., YMCA, YWCA).
• Military base facilities.
• Government agencies (e.g., Cooperative Extension Service facilities, social service offices).
• Corporations, businesses, and workplaces.
• Health care facilities.
• Homes.

Location Characteristics to Consider

• Privacy – a private room where non-group members are not going in and out during program time.
• Comfort – heating and air conditioning, well-ventilated, comfortable seating (comfortable enough to not distract from learning).
• Audibility – everyone can hear and be heard by the educator.
• No distractions – there is no way to eliminate all possible distractions, but steps should be taken to limit potential distractions.
• Proximity and convenience for participants – this will increase attendance.
• Good fit for the number of participants – for example, 10 people in a large auditorium or 100 people in a small classroom is not a good fit.
• Participation-friendly room arrangement – all participants can see and be seen by the educator.

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Recruitment

Recruitment is the process of getting people to come to your marriage education program. Recruiting might possibly be the hardest part of getting started. Most of us feel we lead very busy lives. Even though potential participants may see the value in a marriage education program, they may also feel as if they already have too much on their plate to add another activity to their lives. It is your task to introduce your program to the public, emphasizing the benefits of participation. It is essential to provide specific information about the program to potential participants. Throughout the recruiting process, you must state clearly:

• WHO the program is for.
• WHAT good it may accomplish (what the purpose is).
• WHERE the program meets.
• WHEN the program meets.
• WHY people would want to come.
• HOW they can find out more.

Recruitment Methods

There are many different manners and methods to recruit participants to your marriage education program.

• Making announcements through the media, such as newspapers, magazines, radio or television.
• Mailings.
• E-mail or Web sites.
• Newsletters.
• Community calendars.
• Online event calendars.
• Direct invitations to individuals and couples through personal contact.
• Word of Mouth.
• Referrals.

Referrals may come directly or indirectly from religious leaders, court/legal officials, mental health professionals, employers, and schools.

NHMRC Resources on Recruitment

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