Get Started

Significant preparation, prior to offering your first class, will lay the foundation for a successful healthy marriage program. Choose from the topics below to get started:

Identify Your Target Population

Before you begin offering services, you’ll need to identify your target population. This decision will affect the location(s) of your program, the curriculum you choose, your method of recruitment and marketing, and the development of goals used to evaluate program effectiveness.

The following are questions to guide the identification of your target population:

  • Is your community largely Caucasian, African American, or Hispanic?
  • Do you have an under-served or low-income population in your community?
  • Are you hoping to serve couples in a particular life stage, (i.e. pre-marital, having a baby, parents with a grade-school aged child, or empty nesters)?
  • Do you have a strong relationship with a community organization that services a certain population and has committed to assisting with program recruitment?
  • Are there guidelines established by your funding source that require you to serve a pre-identified population?

If you live in a small rural community, the identification of your population may not be a difficult process, but programs in larger metropolitan areas will need to be thoughtful about which group(s) can be easily accessed and will benefit most from the marriage education services your program will offer.

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Conduct a Community Assessment

An assessment of your community will give you valuable insight into what your potential audiences want in a healthy marriage program. According to Powell and Cassidy (2001)1 there are three main components to a community assessment: 1) ask, 2) study, and 3) observe.

Ask

As a first step, seek permission to conduct an assessment. For example, if you are looking to provide marriage education services at a church, talk to the minister about your hope to survey your potential participants. This keeps the minister informed and can also be a way for you to get some help from someone who has an "in."

Next, contact potential participants of your program. For example, talk with: employees at their work; students at their school, college, or university; or patients at a health care organization. Ask them what type of marriage education service would be the most attractive to them. Sample questions may include:

  • If we offered, free of charge, a program to help you with your relationships, would you be interested in participating? (Identifies potential community interest)
  • Do you believe your spouse would attend with you? (Identifies whether "couple" recruitment will be a challenge)
  • Would you prefer an eight hour weekend event or multiple sessions held one night a week for a month? (Helps you decide on your program model)
  • Would you need to make arrangements for childcare to attend this event? If so, do you have a support system of family and friends to babysit? (Determines if you need to offer childcare assistance and if so if you should use vouchers or on-site care)
  • If we offered these services at [location in community] would this be convenient for you? (Identifies effectiveness of proposed program site)

There are many assessment techniques you may consider:

  • Focus Groups. Meetings of small groups of potential participants, led by a facilitator. Focus groups allow for interaction and brainstorming between potential participants.
  • Interviews. One-on-one discussions held in person or over the phone (if contact information is available). Interviews can reach those who struggle with speaking in groups, but can also be time consuming. It may be beneficial to send an outline of the questions to be discussed prior to the interviews.
  • Questionnaires. Hard copy or electronic surveys. Questionnaires provide more privacy than focus groups or interviews. There is a low response rate for questionnaires mailed or left somewhere for completion. The response rate is better when filled out in the presence of the educator (e.g., at the end of class).

Study

Conduct research about the group of people you will be serving and their culture. The more you know, the better you can be at connecting with your audience. Possible places of study include the library, the bookstore, the Internet, or other unique settings specific to the group you are serving. Also, if you know anyone else who has provided services to your target population, get in touch with them to ask questions.

Observe

Observing the group you will be serving will allow you to put yourself in their shoes and better understand how to satisfy their needs. This requires active involvement in the group within which you will be offering services. For example, if you are reaching out to newlyweds, you might find a newlywed couple and ask to spend some time with them.

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Choose Program Activities

At this point, you will decide what your marriage education program will teach and what you hope the participants leave your program having learned. The first step is to decide on an existing marriage education program curriculum or develop your own.

Here are a few things to consider during your decision-making process.

  • Personal philosophy and interest. It is important to do what you like, what interests you, and what you believe in. If you compromise in your choice of curriculum, it will show in your ability to connect with your audience.
  • How the program will be delivered. Examples include:
    • Workshops, seminars, retreats
    • High school, college, and community courses
    • Lectures and speeches
    • Distribution of video and audio tapes, CDs, and DVDs
    • Web sites
    • Books, magazines, pamphlets, news articles, and newsletters
  • Specific content of the program. The following are several content area examples covered in existing marriage education programs.
    • Good Communication
    • Effective Problem Solving Skills
    • Expectations about Marriage
    • Commitment to Marriage
    • Couple and Family Finances
    • Role Allocation Decisions (e.g., housework and child care)
    • Effectively Balancing Individual Needs and Couplehood
    • Domestic Violence Awareness

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Choose a Location

Your choice of where to hold your marriage education program is an important one. When considering a location, look for:

  • Proximity and convenience for participants
  • Reasonable rental fees. Some locations may require a space rental fee, while others may not
  • A private room where non-group members are not going in and out during program time
  • Comfortable accommodations, including heating and air conditioning, good ventilation, and comfortable seating (comfortable enough to not distract from learning)
  • Audibility, so that everyone can hear and be heard by the educator
  • Limited potential distractions. There is no way to eliminate all possible distractions, but steps should be taken to limit them
  • A good fit for the number of participants. For example, 10 people in a large auditorium or 100 people in a small classroom are not good fits
  • A participation-friendly room arrangement, so that all participants can see and be seen by the educator

Possible locations include the following:

  • Schools, colleges, and universities
  • Religious organizations
  • Neighborhood and family resource centers (e.g., YMCA, YWCA)
  • Government agencies (e.g., Cooperative Extension Service facilities, social service offices)
  • Corporations, businesses, and workplaces
  • Health care facilities
  • Homes

For more in-depth information on location and other operational issues, download our tip sheet and how-to guide:

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Recruit Participants

Recruiting people to participate in your program might be the hardest part of getting started. Even though potential participants may see the program’s value, they may also feel overwhelmed with what they already have on their plates. It is your task to introduce your program to the public and emphasize the benefits of participation. Throughout the recruiting process, share the following specifics:

  • WHO the program is for
  • WHAT good it may accomplish (its purpose)
  • WHERE the program meets
  • WHEN the program meets
  • WHY it will benefit the participants
  • HOW they can learn more

There are many different ways to recruit participants, including:

  • Referrals, either direct or indirect, from religious leaders, court/legal officials, community organizations, employers, and schools
  • Announcements through the media, such as newspapers, magazines, radio, or television
  • Direct mailings
  • E-mail or Web site postings
  • Inclusion of information in newsletters
  • Listings on community calendars – in print and online
  • Inviting individuals and couples directly
  • Word of mouth

For more information on recruiting participants, download the following NHMRC tip sheets or listen to the Webinar: Recruitment and Marketing to Couples and Individuals:

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1 Powell, L.H., & Cassidy, D. (2001). Family Life Education: An Introduction. Mayfield Publishing Company: London. Back