Publication Date

8-1984

Degree Granted

Ph.D.

Institution Granting Degree

University of North Texas

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of a home-based, audio cassette marriage enrichment course on marital communication and marital adjustment. The marriage enrichment course evaluated in this study consisted of two audio cassette tapes, each containing two sessions of approximately 45 minutes in length, and one work booklet. The course contained exercises emphasizing the development of communication skills, encouragement of self-disclosure, learning of empathy skills, and the setting of personal and mutual goals. The unique aspects of the course were the home-based setting in which the couples completed the program, and the self-enclosed audio cassette nature of the course.

The subjects consisted of 24 Protestant, married couples residing in a medium sized western United States city. A pretest, posttest control group experimental design with a one month follow-up was formulated consisting of one experimental group and a no-treatment control group. Twelve hypotheses were generated predicting that the subjects who participated in the audio cassette course would experience a significant increase in their level of marital communication and marital adjustment at the posttest and at a one month follow-up test. The dependent variables were the scores on the Marital Communication Inventory (Bienvenu, 1969), and the Locke-Wallace Short Form Marital Adjustment Test (Locke & Wallace, 1959). Analysis of Covariance was used to evaluate the data with the pretest serving as the covariate in each analysis.

The results of the study indicated that the experimental group, relative to the control group, made no significant changes in the directions hypothesized as a result of participation in the audio cassette marriage enrichment course. The medium used to present the marriage enrichment course, the quantity of material presented in the course, and the home-based nature of the program were discussed as possible reasons for the failure of the course to effect any significant changes.

Download

Share

COinS