Relationship Education for Military Couples: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial of the Effects of Couple CARE in Uniform

ABSTRACT

Military life can place excess strain on couple relationships. The Couple CARE relationship education program was tailored to address the challenges of military couples. Thirty-two Australian military couples participated in a pilot feasibility study assessing the Couple CARE in Uniform adaptation against an active control. Relationship satisfaction and communication improved in both conditions, with no significant difference between the conditions. Couples' high relationship satisfaction on presentation, paired with modest statistical power, might have contributed to the null results. However, Couple CARE in Uniform had significantly higher consumer satisfaction than the comparison condition, suggesting it is a program worthy of further evaluation.

KEYWORDS:

• Relationship education
• military
• couples
• relationship satisfaction
• communication

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the Australian Defence Force for their ongoing support and assistance in the conduct of this research. Thank you also to research assistants Paige Ebersohn and Freya Young for their work coding the observational communication data.