As noted in Chapter 2, inventories such as PREPARE (PREmarital Personal and Relationship Evaluation) and FOCCUS (Facilitating Open Couple Communication, Understanding and Study) were introduced as alternatives to program-based relationship education activities. Since their introduction, these forms of service activities have grown in popularity and now comprise a significant proportion of service activities offered by providers. In a survey of programs conducted by the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs, 52% of all reported participants used services based on the use of a range of pre and post wedding inventories (House of Representatives Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs 1998, p. 135). On the basis of this breadth of service provision, the research team were asked to include a small-scale study on the provision of these inventories as an adjunct to the main activity of developing the typology of services. This chapter reports on the data collection processes and outcomes of this component of the study.
7.1 Sampling method
In the first instance the decision was taken to restrict the survey to a sample of persons who used either the PREPARE, FOCCUS or ENRICH inventories. The national offices of PREPARE and FOCCUS assisted the Research Team by providing detailed mailing lists from which the samples of users were drawn. These lists were drawn from the larger populations of registered users of the inventories and restricted to persons who were defined as 'active' users of the inventories. In the case of PREPARE / ENRICH, users who had submitted inventories for computer scoring within the last 12 months were included in the mailing lists. For FOCCUS, persons were included on the mailing list if they were registered as having paid their annual service fee as users. This decision ultimately led to the inclusion of all facilitators currently registered as users of FOCCUS in the survey, a total of 847.
Since the use of either the PREPARE or ENRICH inventory would depend on the context is which the users were working, the sampling process needed to be cognisant of the possibility that some ENRICH users would not be able to provide information on their use of PREPARE and PREPARE users, similarly, would not be able to provide data on their use of ENRICH. Additionally, it was also noted that of the 6,095 PREPARE users and 3,354 ENRICH users, only 2,946 active users of these were noted to be 'active' users of the inventories
in the past 12 months. Hence a decision was made to draw a sample of approximately 50% of these 'active' users and to construct the sample so that there were approximately two PREPARE users selected for each ENRICH user in the sample. Table 7.1 provides a summary of the sample of users drawn from the mailing lists provided by PREPARE by state and inventory type.
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TABLE 7.1: Sample of PREPARE / ENRICH users
| State |
PREPARE |
ENRICH |
| South Australia |
95 |
44 |
| Western Australia |
66 |
29 |
| Northern Territory |
12 |
5 |
| Queensland |
183 |
86 |
| New South Wales |
356 |
136 |
| Australian Capital Territory |
14 |
9 |
| Victoria |
203 |
77 |
Tasmania
New Zealand |
35
1 |
14 |
| Total |
965 |
400 |
7.2 Questionnaire design and data collection
The questionnaire to collect data from FOCCUS and PREPARE / ENRICH users was an adapted version of the instrument used to capture data from program providers (see Appendix F for a copy of the questionnaires designed for FOCCUS and PREPARE / ENRICH users). Recipients of questionnaires were asked to return them within two weeks of their receipt. The numbers of questionnaires returned according to state/territory are noted in Table 7.2 below.
TABLE 7.2: Questionnaires returned by PREPARE / ENRICH and FOCCUS users
| State |
PREPARE |
ENRICH |
FOCCUS |
| South Australia |
24 |
8 |
10 |
| Western Australia |
17 |
4 |
6 |
| Northern Territory |
7 |
0 |
1 |
| Queensland |
25 |
8 |
36 |
| New South Wales |
82 |
26 |
10 |
| Australian Capital Territory |
3 |
0 |
1 |
| Victoria |
42 |
9 |
64 |
| Tasmania |
9 |
1 |
10 |
| New Zealand |
1 |
12 |
- |
| Return to Sender |
5 |
|
20 |
| Total |
215 |
68 |
158 |
| Response rate |
22% |
14% |
16% |
The response rate for the questionnaire was not expected to be high, given there was no advance notice of the arrival of the questionnaire and the lack of time to implement follow-up procedures. The response rates for each inventory are quite low, at 22 per cent, 14 per cent, and 16 per cent respectively. Hence, while the ability to generalise from the sample of inventory users to the wider population of users is limited, the survey meets the purposes (that is, to provide an indicative profile of users of inventories) for which it was undertaken.
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7.3 Users of inventories
Profiles of users of each type of inventory follow. Given the small sample size and the high variances in the data available for some analyses, medians and ranges of some variables are reported in preference to means and standard deviations.
Profile of PREPARE users and their ways of working with the inventory
The majority (79%) of the 215 PREPARE users who provided information for the survey described themselves as working within the context of a larger organisation. As most of these were religious celebrants (84%) the basis of these organisations lay in the faith traditions of which they were a part. Very few respondents were psychologists (1%) or counsellors (17%) and there were no civil celebrants in the sample. Respondents were generally active users of the inventory with only 3 reporting that they had not used PREPARE with any couples in the past 12 months (Table 7.2). The median number of couples seen by users in the past 12 months was four couples. However, almost 90% of respondents reported seeing 10 couples or less in the previous 12 month period.
Table 7.3: Number of couples working with PREPARE users in the past 12 months
| Number of couples |
Frequency |
Percentage |
| 0 |
3 |
1.4 |
| 1 couple |
15 |
7.2 |
| 2 couples |
44 |
21.2 |
| 3 couples |
36 |
17.3 |
| 4 couples |
26 |
12.5 |
| 5 couples |
16 |
7.7 |
| 6 – 10 couples |
47 |
22.7 |
| 11 – 20 couples |
15 |
7.2 |
| 21 – 50 couples |
5 |
2.4 |
| > 50 couples |
1 |
0.5 |
| Missing |
7 |
- |
| Total |
215 |
|
As would be expected the majority of respondents worked with committed (83%) rather than married (28%) couples reflecting the primary audience for which the inventory was designed. Most respondents (69%) reported adopting a flexible approach in the use of PREPARE with clients, where the number of hours and sessions varies. In these cases, a PREPARE administrator spends an average of 5.7 hours with a couple over an average of 3.6 sessions, but these could range from a minimum of two hours to a maximum of 15 hours over sessions ranging in number from one to seven.
Thirty one percent of users reported that they do not vary the number of hours and sessions that they work with couples. For these users, the total hours spent with a couple ranged from two to 20, with an average of 6.1 hours, over as few as two sessions or as many as six. The average number of sessions was four.
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Costs of the PREPARE service for couples varied widely. Twenty-seven respondents reported offering the service at no cost to couples. While the average cost to couples was $45, 18 respondents reported charging couples $100 or more for the service. The maximum cost per couple reported in the survey was $258.
Data supplied by respondents in relation to the content of the sessions they conducted with couples varied in its detail. Nearly 16% of respondents reported that they 'provided feedback' on the questionnaire suggesting that the content was limited to discussing couple responses to the items contained in the inventory. Seven percent of respondents reported providing feedback plus covering a limited number of other content areas. Across other respondents, four content areas emerged as the most commonly covered by respondents administering PREPARE to couples. Family of origin, communication and conflict resolution, money and budgeting and understanding relationships were cited the most frequently (Table 7.4).
Eighty eight percent of respondents reported they taught skills as part of the PREPARE process. As with the reporting of skills by program providers (see Chapter 4), some of the reported skills training was likely to be in reality a further elaboration of content (for example, family of origin, personal characteristics) or suggestive of a focus on particular sets of attitudes or values (for example, sharing, caring and loving). Where skills were listed they tended to closely mirror the content of the inventory, showing a strong focus on communication, conflict resolution and budgeting skills.
Most respondents combined the use of the workbook supplied to PREPARE users (85%) with skills training (88%). Sixty-eight per cent said they used resources other than the inventory materials, largely in the form of books and/or videos.
Only fifty per cent of the sample overall indicated that they followed up on the couples after they had married. Approximately half of individual PREPARE providers (51%) and slightly more than half of those providing PREPARE in an organisational setting (55%) conduct follow up. Follow up is slightly more likely to occur where PREPARE is part of a flexible (56%) than a fixed (48%) approach to service delivery. Follow up is strongly associated with provision of skills training – where skills are not part of the program, follow up is unlikely. Where the PREPARE workbook forms part of the process, follow up is slightly more likely (55%) to occur than not (45%), and where the workbook is not used follow up is also unlikely (59%). Where it does occur, follow up tends to be informal and may involve participation in (or the offer of) a post-wedding program, personal contact, pastoral care or newsletters. Reasons for not providing follow up were the same regardless of whether the provider was a member of an organisation or not. Time and lack of specific resources or information were reported as the primary barriers to follow up regardless of whether the facilitator offered a fixed or flexible approach to service delivery. Those who incorporate skills training (although the low frequency of endorsements of some constraints limits the conclusions to be drawn from these data) also noted both barriers.
Table 7.4: Content areas addressed by PREPARE users with couples
| Content* |
Frequency |
Percentage of responses |
| Family of origin |
73 |
18.1 |
| Self awareness, care, esteem |
19 |
4.7 |
| Spirituality |
22 |
5.5 |
| Expectations |
19 |
4.7 |
| Sexuality |
16 |
4.0 |
| Stress management |
1 |
0.2 |
| Assertiveness |
25 |
6.2 |
| Money and budgeting |
49 |
12.2 |
| Communication and conflict |
91 |
22.6 |
| Understanding relationships |
49 |
12.2 |
| Children and relationships |
7 |
1.7 |
| Intimacy |
5 |
1.2 |
| Gender issues |
1 |
0.2 |
| Partner awareness |
20 |
5.0 |
| Infertility |
1 |
0.2 |
| Step families |
2 |
0.5 |
| Anger management |
3 |
0.7 |
* Respondents could select more than one content area
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Profile of ENRICH users and their ways of working with the inventory
As with PREPARE users, providers working with ENRICH tended to be members of organisations (84%) and religious celebrants (82%). Most worked with committed couples (87%) while just over half reported married couples as their clients (respondents could respond 'yes' to both of these groups). ENRICH was provided in a flexible format by more than three quarters (79%) of the respondents, consisting of, on average, 5.7 hours of contact over 3.7 sessions (hours ranged from two to twelve, sessions from two to six). Only seven providers reported offering services that were fixed in their format. The total number of hours for these programs ranged from three to fifteen, with a median of 4.5, while the total number of sessions ranged from three to seven, with a median of 3.5 sessions.
As predicted, finding active ENRICH users within the confines of the sampling process used for the survey proved difficult. Only 38 respondents responded as active ENRICH users with the just over 90% of these reporting that they had worked with 10 couples or less in the past 12 months. The median number of couples ENRICH providers reported seeing in the previous year was four. Costs for ENRICH services varied from $30 to $255 per couple with the median cost being $39 per couple.
ENRICH users tended to address three content areas somewhat more frequently than others: family of origin, money and budgeting, and communication and conflict resolution (Table 7.5). Over two-thirds (71%) of respondents indicated they use other resources in addition to the inventory materials, mostly in the form of exercises, books and homework exercises. The vast majority (95%) reported that they included skills training in their program, and almost two-thirds (65%) conducted some form of follow up. Follow up tended to be informal and largely conducted by providers who are members of organisations and those where programs are offered in a flexible format.
Table 7.5: Content areas addressed by ENRICH users with couples
| Content* |
Frequency |
|
| Family of origin |
15 |
|
| Self awareness, care, esteem |
7 |
|
| Spirituality |
4 |
|
| Expectations |
1 |
|
| Sexuality |
5 |
|
| Assertiveness |
5 |
|
| Money and budgeting |
11 |
|
| Communication and conflict |
17 |
|
| Understanding relationships |
5 |
|
| Children and relationships |
2 |
|
| Intimacy |
1 |
|
| Gender issues |
1 |
|
| Partner awareness |
6 |
7.5 |
* Respondents could select more than one content area
Skills training tended to be associated with follow up of couples, typically conducted by users working in organisational settings and those whose service delivery follows a flexible structure. Four reasons were reported for not following up on couples after their participation in the initial ENRICH inventory program. Typically these relate to the time available for providers to initiate and conduct the follow up and to issues of geography – either the couple moves away or the provider does not remain in the region for long enough periods. However, since only 12 providers do not maintain contact with couples this information is of limited value.
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Profile of FOCCUS users and their ways of working with the inventory
As with both the PREPARE and ENRICH inventories, the majority of FOCCUS users responding to the survey were working as part of an organisation. Just over half of the respondents were religious celebrants, with a further third being counsellors and a small number (6%) being psychologists.
Respondents were generally active users of the FOCCUS inventory with only 3 reporting not having worked with couples in the previous 12 months. Sixty-nine percent of respondents had worked with 10 couples or less within the previous 12 months. The median number of couples seen by the group or respondents was six couples (Table 7.6).
Almost one-third of the users did not ask for a fee for their services (29%). Fees for FOCCUS services for the remaining two thirds of respondents ranged from $10 to $170. The median cost to couples was $23.
Table 7.6: Number of couples working with FOCCUS users in the past 12 months
| Number of couples |
Frequency |
Percentage |
| 0 |
3 |
2.5 |
| 1 couple |
10 |
8.4 |
| 2 couples |
8 |
6.7 |
| 3 couples |
9 |
7.6 |
| 4 couples |
10 |
8.4 |
| 5 couples |
10 |
8.4 |
| 6 – 10 couples |
32 |
26.9 |
| 11 – 20 couples |
23 |
19.3 |
| 21 – 50 couples |
10 |
8.4 |
| > 50 couples |
4 |
3.4 |
| Missing |
4 |
- |
| Total |
123 |
|
FOCCUS services that were fixed in structure tended to be run by religious celebrants, lasting a total of four hours (with a range of two to ten) over a total of three sessions (ranging from one to five). Two-thirds of providers offered a flexible form of service delivery, lasting an average of five hours (with a range of one to sixteen) over 3.2 sessions (with a range of one to ten). The main content areas addressed by these providers in their extended FOCCUS programs were family of origin and communication and conflict resolution, however these were endorsed by only 15 users (Table 7.7).
Other resource materials were used by 58% of FOCCUS administrators overall, although these providers were less likely to be religious celebrants. The additional resources were primarily in the form of information sheets, exercises, homework and books. These were much more likely to be utilised by providers of fixed (76%) rather than flexible (49%) approaches to service delivery.
Two-thirds of FOCCUS users report teaching skills, and the facilitator manual is an integral part of their service activities for 78 percent of them. Providers who have a fixed approach to service delivery are somewhat more likely to report teaching skills (73%) compared to those adopting flexible approaches (67%), but are less likely to use the facilitator manual (66% compared to 84%).
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Table 7.7: Content areas addressed by FOCCUS users adopting a flexible service delivery model with couples
| Content* |
Frequency |
|
| Family of origin |
15 |
|
| Self awareness, care, esteem |
9 |
|
| Spirituality |
7 |
|
| Expectations |
7 |
|
| Sexuality |
6 |
|
| Assertiveness |
2 |
|
| Money and budgeting |
8 |
|
| Communication and conflict |
15 |
|
| Understanding relationships |
8 |
|
| Sacrament of marriage |
4 |
|
| Intimacy |
6 |
|
| Gender issues |
1 |
|
| Partner awareness |
8 |
8.3 |
* Respondents could select more than one content area
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Overall, only one quarter of FOCCUS users conduct follow up sessions or maintain contact with couples, and those who do are rather more likely to be members of organisations (27%) rather than individual providers (13%). Where follow up is done, it tends to be in the form of open invitations or offers for ongoing contact, informal ongoing contact and monitoring through personal visits or pastoral care, or through notification and offers of ENRICH or other post-wedding courses or groups. There appears to be a slight trend towards using additional resources, such as books, exercises and videos, in lieu of conducting follow up sessions: just under a third (31%) of those who use additional resources conduct follow up. Similarly, if the provider does not include skills training they are unlikely to conduct follow up sessions. Time constraints, lack of structural provisions and couple reticence or lack of interest were the primary reasons offered for not conducting follow up sessions.
7.4 Conclusion
The small scale study undertaken to gain some insights into relationship education service activities using the PREPARE, ENRICH AND FOCCUS inventories demonstrate the flexible ways in which these tools can be used across a range of organisational settings, particularly by clergy who are involved in offering services to couples as part of their ministries.
Generally, the level of service activity undertaken by individual users of inventories across a 12-month period is modest, with large numbers of users reporting that they worked with 10 couples or less during that period. The data also suggest that users adopt a flexible approach to service delivery, varying the number of sessions and content covered with couples. Follow up activities also appeared to be problematic for a number of respondents.
While it is not possible to draw any firm generalisations about general service delivery practices of all inventory users from this small-scale study, it illustrates that relationship service activities based on inventories is a significant undertaking for some service providers and potentially offers a range of opportunities for couples to engage in learning about relationship issues and skills in settings outside of the usual programmatic frameworks.
The next and final chapter in this report will evaluate the overall outcomes and products from the study. In doing so, it revisits the initial rationale that framed this study and seeks to enunciate the implications of the research for both the further research into relationship education service activities and the process of providing future directions for the growth and development of these activities.