The PREPARE/ENRICH Program:
Premarital and Marital Counseling and Education
Overview of the PREPARE/ENRICH Program
What is the PREPARE/ENRICH Program?
How many couples have taken the PREPARE/ENRICH Program?
What are the five different inventories?
What are the major goals of the PREPARE/ENRICH Program?
What relationship areas are assessed by the Inventories?
What evidence is there that the PREPARE/ENRICH Program is valid & reliable?
What is the PREPARE/ENRICH Program?
PREPARE/ENRICH is a program based on a set of five inventories that examine major relationship issues that a couple may experience. These inventories must be administered by a trained PREPARE/ENRICH Counselor and include 4-6 feedback sessions in which the counselor facilitates discussion between the couple based on their inventory results.
How many people have taken the PREPARE/ENRICH Program?
Over 2 million couples have taken the PREPARE/ENRICH Program (4 million people) since it began in 1980.
What are the five different inventories?
PREPARE - Pre-marital couples
PREPARE-MC - Pre-marital couples with children
PREPARE-CC - Cohabiting Couples with or without children
ENRICH - Married couples with or without children
MATE - Couples over the age of 50
What are the major goals of the PREPARE/ENRICH Program?
There are six goals of the PREPARE/ENRICH Program. In order to achieve these goals there are also six corresponding couple exercises designed to help couples improve their relationship skills. The six goals are:
To explore Relationship Strengths and Growth Areas
To learn Assertiveness and Active Listening Skills
To learn how to resolve conflict using the Ten Step Model
To help the couple discuss their Family-of-Origin
To help the couple with financial planning and budgeting
To focus on personal, couple and family goals
What relationship areas are assessed by the Inventories?
The following are the 20 relationship areas assessed in each of the five Couple Inventories:
A. Focuses on Significant Issues for Couples (14 scales)
Communication
Conflict Resolution
Personality Issues
Financial Management
Sexual Expectations
Marital Satisfaction
Leisure Activities
Children and Parenting
Family and Friends
Expectations/Cohabitation Issues
Idealistic Distortion
Role Relationship
Spiritual Beliefs
B. Personality Assessment (4 scales)
Assertiveness
Self Confidence
Avoidance
Partner Dominance
C. Couple and Family Map (4 scales)
Family-of-Origin Closeness
Family-of-Origin Flexibility
Couple Closeness
Couple Flexibility
What evidence is there that the PREPARE/ENRICH Program is valid & reliable?
An important strength of the PREPARE/ENRICH Inventories is their strong psychometric properties. High levels of reliability and validity have been found for each instrument, making them valuable tools for research as well as clinical use. The national norm base, validity and reliability information are listed below.
National Norms based on:
500,000 couples for PREPARE
200,000 couples for PREPARE-MC
100,000 couples for PREPARE-CC
250,000 couples for ENRICH
150,000 couples for MATE
High Levels of Validity and Reliability:
PREPARE has validity in that it discriminates premarital couples that get divorced from those that are happily married with about 80-85% accuracy. Reliability is high (alpha reliability of .80 - .85).