Effects of online relationship programs for low-income couples during the perinatal period

Erica A Mitchell1, Yunying Le2, S Gabe Hatch3

  • 1Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA.

PubMed

Low-income couples experience increased stress and declines in relationship quality during the perinatal period. They also encounter many barriers to accessing relationship services. Using a subsample of low-income perinatal couples (n = 180) from two randomized controlled trials, the current study examined the impact of online relationship interventions, OurRelationship (OR) and ePREP, in a Bayesian framework. From pre to post, relative to waitlist control couples, couples in OR and ePREP experienced improvements in relationship quality (Mean d = 0.51) and psychological distress (Mean d = 0.28); OR couples, relative to waitlist control couples, also experienced improvements in perceived stress (Mean d = 0.33). These improvements were maintained through four-month follow-up and did not differ across gender. These findings suggest brief online relationship interventions may be an important resource for low-income perinatal couples.

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