Symposium 95 - Cultivating Relationship Joy: Early Detection, Prevention, and Intervention for Fostering Relationship Health in Active-Duty Military Couples

Saturday, November 18, 2023

2:30 PM – 3:30 PM PST

Location: Clallum (701), Level 7

CE: 1

Keywords: Couples / Close Relationships, Military, Dissemination
Level of Familiarity: All
Recommended Readings: Cigrang, J. A., Cordova, J. V., Gray, T. D., Fedynich, A. L., Maher, E., Diehl, A. N., & Hawrilenko, M. (2022). Marriage checkup in integrated primary care: A randomized controlled trial with active-duty military couples. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 90(5), 381–391, Mastroleo, N. R., Possemato, K., King, P. R., Balderrama-Durbin, C., Crinnin, C., Cigrang, J. A., & Rauch, S. A. (2022). Development and initial testing of a brief, integrated intervention aimed at reducing heavy alcohol use and PTSD among military veterans in primary care. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice., Gray, T.D., Hawrilenko, M., & Cordova, J.V. (2019). Randomized controlled trial of the Marriage Checkup: Depression outcomes. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy. doi.org/10.1111/jmft.12411, ,

Chair(s)

JC

James Córdova, Ph.D. (he/him/his)

Professor and Chair, Dept. of Psychology
Clark University
Worcester, Massachusetts

Discussant(s)

BD

Brian D. Doss, PhD (he/him/his)

Professor
University of Miami
Coral Gables, Florida

Presenter(s)

JC

James Córdova, Ph.D. (he/him/his)

Professor and Chair, Dept. of Psychology
Clark University
Worcester, Massachusetts
CB

Christina Balderrama-Durbin, Ph.D. (she/her/hers)

Assistant Professor
Binghamton University
Binghamton, New York
Tatiana Gray, Ph.D. (she/her/hers)

Assistant Professor
Springfield College
Springfield, Massachusetts

Joy is cultivated most richly within healthy relationships. Recent research highlights the key role prevention and early intervention play in maintaining and enhancing the joy of healthy relationships. This symposium will focus on efforts to improve well-being, meaning-making, and fulfillment through the dissemination and implementation of early intervention efforts to maintain and improve relationship health, while improving access to evidence-based relationship healthcare in U.S. military families. Active-duty military members and their families face significant and unique challenges to their individual health and well-being, and the health and well-being of their relationships. First, Professor Christina Balderrama-Durbin will present work on the development and testing of a brief relationship health screener and a self-directed, web-based couple relationship-distress prevention program targeting essential relationship skills in a population of active-duty Air Force couples. Professor Balderrama-Durbin will present qualitative and quantitative assessments of program usability, feasibility, viability, and initial measures of efficacy. Next, Professor James Cordova will present the results of the first large-scale randomized control trial of the Marriage Checkup in a population of active-duty Air Force couples within integrated primary care settings. Results of this study indicate significant increases in relationship satisfaction, responsive attention, compassion towards their partner, communication skills, intimate safety, and decreases in depressive symptoms (Cohen’s d from 0.21 to 0.55). Lastly, Professor Tatiana Gray will present data from ongoing work on the dissemination of the Relationship Checkup within the Military Family Life Counselor program around the world. Data will be presented from over 1000 MFLCs who have been trained and over 3800 military couples who have been served. Results indicate a significant increase in relationship satisfaction from pre to post Checkup (d=0.47), while increasing the joy of the mental health counselors. Finally, Professor Brian Doss will serve as the discussant for this symposium, drawing together themes and future directions for the field. Professor Doss is a leading figure in the field of relationship health research, focusing specifically on low-income couples and couples in which one person is a veteran or active duty service member.

Learning Objectives:

At the end of the session, the learner will be able to:

Describe the association between relationship health and overall health, wellness, and readiness of active duty military partners.
Identify the unique relationship stressors affecting military couples.
List innovative interventions that effectively address the relationship health needs of military couples.
Describe a method for screening the relationship health of military service members.
Identify the unique challenges and opportunities for effective relationship health program dissemination in the military.
Explain the relationship health outcomes of the Marriage Checkup for military couples.