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Prevention and Relationship Enhancement Programs (PREP)

PREP include several research-based and research-tested curricula that teach skills and principles for helping people increase chances for a happy and healthy relationship. A unique feature of PREP is that the information, skills, and strategies taught in PREP are based on research on how relationships work. Moreover, the content of the program is continually refined and updated based on new research findings and experiences in disseminating the program. This entry provides a brief historical overview of PREP, summarizes five versions of this program, presents findings from studies evaluating its effectiveness, and highlights directions for further research.

Historical Overview

Based on studies examining behaviors and perceptions of both distressed and nondistressed couples, as well as studies that identify factors associated with relationship success, PREP started in 1980 as a premarital intervention program designed to enhance relationship functioning and prevent divorce. Key research findings at the time were summarized by George Levinger, who noted that the disagreements couples had did not matter as much as how they were handled. Therefore, early versions of PREP focused on teaching communication and conflict-resolution skills. In addition to being based on available research on marital success, PREP built on the work of Sherod Miller and associates' Couples Communication Program, Bernard Guerney's Relationship Enhancement Program, as well as Virginia Satir's and Salvador Minuchin's versions of family system theory.

The first use of PREP outside of a research context occurred in 1991, when the Navy decided to train Navy and Marine chaplains and social workers in PREP to help military couples. In 1995, the U.S. Army started using a version of PREP called Building Strong and Ready Families, which was geared toward the challenges faced by military couples. Today, nearly all Army chaplains are trained in PREP.

In 1999, the state of Oklahoma started the Oklahoma Marriage Initiative and chose PREP as the curriculum to use to improve marriages in the state. Spearheaded by these initial dissemination efforts, interventions founded in whole or in part on PREP are now being used in a variety of settings (e.g., U.S. Head Start programs, high schools, prisons, youth services diversion programs, Job Corps, religious organizations, and the military), leading to the provision of services to increasingly diverse and high-risk populations.

Evaluation Studies

Early studies of the effectiveness of PREP in university laboratories showed promise for teaching couples communication and conflict management skills, and it led to refinements of the program and large-scale tests of the model in community-based studies. Refinements over the years included focusing on protecting and preserving positive connections (e.g., fun, friendship, sensuality), as well as understanding the deeper meanings underlying successful relationships, such as commitment and forgiveness.

Larger scale outcome studies of PREP and other programs have also been promising. For example, reviews of the effectiveness of premarital intervention programs (including PREP) tend to find that couples receiving such training have significant immediate gains in communication processes, conflict management skills, and overall relationship quality, and that these gains appear to hold for at least 6 months to 3 years. There is also evidence that premarital education of various types is generally effective for people of varying racial backgrounds and income levels, although such services are much less available to those with lower income levels. Recent efforts have focused on evaluating the extent to which PREP can be disseminated in community settings by training other providers (e.g., clergy) to deliver the program, and results of this service-delivery model have been promising.

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