Objective Within the United States, one-third of married couples are distressed and almost half of first marriages (and more than half of unmarried cohabiting relationships) end in divorce/separation. Additionally, relationship distress has been linked to mental and physical health problems in partners and their children. Although couple therapy is effective in reducing relationship distress, it is utilized by less than one third of divorcing couples. Therefore, more accessible interventions for relationship distress are needed. Method This study tests the efficacy of the OurRelationship (OR) program, an eight-hour online program adapted from an empirically-based, in-person couple therapy. In the program, couples complete online activities and have four, 15-minute calls with project staff. Nationwide, 300 heterosexual couples (N = 600 participants) participated; couples were generally representative of the US in terms of race, ethnicity, and education. Couples were randomly assigned to begin the program immediately or to a two month waitlist control group. Results Compared to the waitlist group, intervention couples reported significant improvements in relationship satisfaction (Cohen’s d=0.69), relationship confidence (d=0.47), and negative relationship quality (d=0.57). Additionally, couples reported significant improvements in multiple domains of individual functioning, especially when individuals began the program with difficulties in that domain: depressive (d=0.71) and anxious symptoms (d=0.94), perceived health (d=0.51), work functioning (d=0.57), and quality of life (d=0.44). Conclusions In a nationally-representative sample of couples, the OR program was effective in significantly improving both relationship and individual functioning, suggesting it can substantially increase the reach of current interventions through its low-cost, web-based format.

Couple therapy – across a number of different theoretical approaches – has been shown to be an effective treatment for a variety of individual and relationship difficulties. Moreover, recent studies have demonstrated that the effects of several approaches last at least two to five years after the end of treatment. However, couple therapy has a critical limitation: most distressed couples – including those that eventually divorce – do not seek couple therapy. Thus, while we recognize there are notable advances in the treatment approaches described in this special section, we argue that traditional approaches to couple therapy need to be supplemented by alternative interventions before we can make a profound, population-level impact on relationship distress and divorce. To this end, we translated Integrative Behavioral Couple Therapy into a self-help, web-based program - www.OurRelationship.com. Through a combination of tailored feedback, filmed illustrations, and interactive education, the online program first helps couples identify a core problem in their relationship. The program then assists partners in coming to a new and more accurate understanding of the problem they jointly identified and subsequently brings them together in a structured conversation to share their new understandings with each other. Finally, based on this shared conceptualization, the program supports couples in making concrete changes in their relationship. In this article, we discuss the rationale for the program, describe the core components of the website, and illustrate these components with a case example. Relative advantages and disadvantages compared to traditional couple therapy are presented.

To examine the current and potential future impact of formal and informal resources to enhance romantic relationships, 1,160 individuals were surveyed. When asked about resources previously utilized, participants reported that numerous forms of relationship help, including talking to a friend/coworker/family member, an individual therapist, and reading self-help materials had a larger impact than attending couple therapy. When asked about potential resources they would be likely to use in the future for relationship problems, participants indicated a strong preference for online self-help resources that included detailed feedback paired with a comprehensive, structured program. Implications for future development and dissemination are discussed.

This study identifies unique mediators of treatment effects and shows that gains in mechanisms predict subsequent relationship satisfaction. Future investigations should focus on the role of emotional closeness and psychological distress-constructs that have often been neglected-in couple therapy. (PsycINFO Database Record

Although there are a number of highly efficacious in-person treatments designed to ameliorate relationship distress, only a small proportion of distressed couples seek out in-person treatment. Recently developed internet-based interventions based on these in-person treatments are a promising way to circumvent common barriers to in-person treatment and give more distressed couples access to these efficacious interventions. The overarching aims of this review are to provide couple and family therapists with a broad overview of the available internet-based interventions and provide suggestions about how these interventions might be utilized before, during, or after in-person treatment. First, we review internet-based interventions targeting individual psychopathology (e.g. anxiety and depression). These interventions would be particularly useful as an adjunctive resource for in-person couple or family therapy when referrals for a concurrent in-person individual therapist are not feasible (because of time, financial, or geographic constraints). The majority of the review centers on internet-based interventions for distressed couples and covers four distinct types of resources: relationship advice websites, assessment/feedback interventions, enrichment interventions for satisfied couples, and interventions targeting at-risk or distressed couples. We close with a case study of one couple’s journey through a newly developed intervention targeting at-risk couples, OurRelationship.com, and provide two appendices with information on currently available internet-based interventions.