The effects of a cognitive-behavioral marital workshop given to couples from diverse church and non-church groups were examined to evaluate the effectiveness of this approach to marital enrichment in a quasi-experimental outcome study. With pretest scores on the Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS) held constant, all groups showed significant treatment effects, with effect size ranging from .97 to 1.20. There were no differences among groups, no gender effects, and no interaction of group and gender. Effects were twice the average reported in the meta-analysis of Giblin, Sprenkle, and Sheehan (1985). The consistency of effects suggests that results are likely to generalize widely to church members who voluntarily participate in marital enrichment, and may also extend to non-church groups.
Distress in couples coping with cancer: A meta-analysis and critical review of role and gender effects.
