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Brigham Young University
This project is in its second phase. In phase one, Hawkins' research confirmed that there is growing interest among healthcare professionals to strengthen family relationships, as well as a critical need to strengthen marriage during the transition to parenthood. The purpose of this second phase is to implement a program (called "Marriage Moments") in child-birth education classes that will help to strengthen marriages during the transition to parenthood, and to evaluate the effectiveness of the program.
Participants for the study will come from couples taking child-birth classes at IHC hospitals in Utah Valley, UT. Treatment-group participants will watch an educational video (either in-class or at home) and participate in personal and couple activities at home. Marital functioning and quality, infant well-being, and maternal depression measurements will be taken by a group of trained undergraduate students. Measurements will be taken at four different points in time: prior to the program, immediately following the program, three months post-partum, and nine months post-partum.
If the program proves helpful for those in this study, the researchers hope to make the program available on a wider basis in various healthcare settings.