“No, It's You:” Dyadic perceived need for change predicts relationship education outcomes

Abstract

Relationship education (RE) efforts have been shown to help couples and individuals with a variety of family relationships. However, much still needs to be identified in terms of what factors are salient to outcomes. Drawing on therapeutic models of change, we have identified perceived need for change as one such potential factor. Using data from a couple RE course (n = 447 couples), we assessed how dyadic congruence and average ratings of each partner's need for change were associated with change in three RE outcomes: knowledge, communication, and commitment. In general, the more partners perceived that their partner needed to change, above and beyond what their partner thought, the less change occurred. Implications for RE programming and implementation are discussed, as well as the potential role of therapeutic models and techniques in RE.