Supporting Healthy Marriage Evaluation: Eight Sites within the United States, 2003-2013

The Supporting Healthy Marriage (SHM) evaluation was launched in 2003 to develop, to implement, and to test the effectiveness of a program aimed at strengthening low-income couples' marriages as one approach for supporting stable and nurturing family environments and parents' and children's well-being. The evaluation was led by MDRC and was sponsored by the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation in the Administration for Children and Families, United States Department of Health and Human Services.The SHM program was a voluntary yearlong marriage education program for low-income married couples who had children or were expecting a child. The program provided a series of group workshops based on structured curricula designed to enhance couples' relationships; supplemental activities to build on workshop themes; and family support services to address participation barriers, connect families with other services, and reinforce curricular themes. The study sample consists of 6,298 couples (12,596 adult sample members) who were expecting a child or had a child under 18 years old at the time of study entry. The sample consists primarily of low-to-modest income, married couples with diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds. In each family, one child was randomly selected to be the focus of any child-related measures gathered in the data collection activities. These children ranged from pre-birth to 14 years old at the time of enrollment in the study. Follow-up interviews were conducted at 12 and 30 months after baseline data collection. More detail is provided in the study documentation.

《支持健康婚姻》（SHM）评估项目于2003年启动，旨在开发、实施并检验一项旨在强化低收入夫妇婚姻关系的项目之有效性，该项目作为支持稳定且充满滋养的家庭环境以及父母与儿童福祉的一种途径。此评估由MDRC主导，并得到美国卫生与公众服务部儿童和家庭管理局规划、研究和评估办公室的赞助。SHM项目是一项针对有子女或即将有子女的低收入已婚夫妇的自愿性全年婚姻教育项目。该计划提供了一系列基于结构化课程设计的团体研讨会，旨在增强夫妇关系；补充活动以深化研讨会主题；以及家庭支持服务，以解决参与障碍，将家庭与其他服务联系起来，并强化课程主题。研究样本包括6,298对夫妇（12,596名成年样本成员），他们在研究入组时正期待或有18岁以下的孩子。样本主要由低收入至适度收入、具有多元种族和民族背景的已婚夫妇组成。在每一家庭中，随机选取一名儿童作为数据收集活动中收集的任何与儿童相关措施的关注对象。这些儿童在研究入组时年龄从出生前到14岁不等。在基线数据收集后的12个月和30个月进行了后续访谈。关于更多细节，请参阅研究文档。