A Study of Australian Relationship Education Service Activities
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1. Introduction
The past ten years have witnessed a substantial increase in the scope and nature of relationship education services across Australia. Successive governments, and in particular the current federal government, have significantly increased support for these services. This policy direction culminated with the announcement of the Stronger Families and Communities Strategy in April 2000 in which support for relationship education programs was highlighted as one of the key government mechanisms by which well-functioning families could be fostered.
One of the earliest initiatives for the national strategy was the commissioning of three background papers. One of these papers focussed exclusively on relationship education (Australian couples in millennium three: a research and development agenda for marriage and relationship education authored by Professor Kim Halford). In this paper, the author reaffirmed the wide diversity of programs offered under the banner of relationship education (Halford 2000, p. 36). This paper also underscored previous discussion and debate that has asserted a lack of empirical evidence to support a systematic understanding of the content, processes and outcomes of these programs. In order to address this lack of empirical knowledge however, a necessary first step is the development of a detailed understanding of the nature and scope of programs.
As a result of recommendations from the Marriage and Family Council, the former Department of Family and Community Services contracted the Australian Institute of Family Studies and the Centre for Research in Education, Equity and Work at the University of South Australia to undertake research to examine the activities of Australian relationship education service providers and to develop a typology that would provide a framework to assist policy makers (and other interested bodies) to make distinctions between the various programs loosely categorised as 'relationship education'. It is intended that the typology would provide a mechanism by which programs could be grouped according to key characteristics (such as geographical or organisational setting, client characteristics, program development procedures, cost, duration, content, processes, theoretical orientation.
This report describes the processes undertaken to develop this typology. Chapter 2 provides a brief overview of the context for the project. Chapter 3 describes the methodology adopted for the study, and in Chapter 4 the data collected during the study that was used a basis for the development of the typology is presented. The typology is then presented in Chapter 5. Chapter 6 provides an audit of the activities of a range of key organisations that were thought to have a role in the delivery of relationship education services. A description of the activities and practices of providers who use the FOCCUS and PREPARE / ENRICH inventories is presented in Chapter 7. The final chapter (Chapter 8) of the report summarises some of the significant points of learning and issues that arose for the research team during the course of the study and offers some suggestions for further research or analysis.
The research team for the study included Michele Simons (Project Director), Angelina Edwards and Roger Harris from the Centre for Research Education, Equity and Work at the University of South Australia, and Robyn Parker (Project Manager) and Jane Muggleton from the Australian Institute of Family Studies.
A Project Steering Committee provided overall direction and support for the study. Its members included Mary Mertin (the former Department of Family and Community Services - Family Relationships Branch), Deb Wheare (the former Department of Family and Community Services - Communities Branch), Angela O'Neill (the former Family and Community Services - Family Relationships Branch), Jenny Cleal (Lifeworks, Melbourne), Elizabeth Dalzell (Marriage and Family Council) and Quinn Pawson (Relationships Australia, Melbourne).