The Supporting Healthy Marriage Evaluation (SHM)

MDRC

Status: Completed

Conditions: Child Behavior; Family Relations; Low-Income Population; Adolescent Behavior; Marital Relationships

Treatments: Behavioral: A Family-Strengthening Program for Low-Income Families

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other; Industry

Identifiers

NCT02112058

HHS-233-03-0034

Details and patient eligibility

About

The Supporting Healthy Marriage (SHM) evaluation was launched in 2003 to test the effectiveness of a skills-based relationship education program designed to help low- and modest-income married couples strengthen their relationships and to support more stable and more nurturing home environments and more positive outcomes for parents and their children. The evaluation was led by MDRC with Abt Associates and other partners, and it was sponsored by the Administration for Children and Families, in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

SHM was a voluntary, year long, marriage education program for lower-income, married couples who had children or were expecting a child. The program provided group workshops based on structured curricula; supplemental activities to build on workshop themes; and family support services to address participation barriers, connect families with other services, and reinforce curricular themes. The study's random assignment design compared outcomes for families who were offered SHM's services with outcomes for a similar group of families who were not but could access other services in the community.

Enrollment: 6,298 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• To be eligible for the study, couples were supposed to be low income, married, at least 18 years old, and either expecting a child or parents of a child under age 18 who was living in their home -- though couples were not required to provide any documentation verifying that they met these eligibility criteria.
• They also had to understand one of the languages in which SHM services were offered (English or, in some locations, Spanish).

Exclusion criteria

• Indication of domestic violence in the relationship

Trial design

6,298 participants in 2 patient groups

Program

Experimental group

Description:

A series of relationship and marriage education workshops for groups of couples that was offered in the first four to five months of enrollment in the program. Complementing the workshops was a second component, offered for the year after enrollment, that consisted of supplemental activities: educational and social events that were intended to build on and reinforce lessons from the curricula. The third component was family support services.

Treatment:

Behavioral: A Family-Strengthening Program for Low-Income Families

Control

No Intervention group

Description:

Business as usual