Developing and Evaluating the Marriage Education Program: The Example of the Turkish Cypriot Community*

Abstract

In this study, the marriage education needs of individuals living in Northern Cyprus were determined, a marriage education program (EEP) was developed in line with the identified needs, and the effectiveness of the program was evaluated. In the study, a single-group quasi-experimental design was used in the implementation and evaluation of the program. The developed program was implemented as in-service training for the employees of the Nicosia Turkish Municipality. Participants in the trainings are 20 volunteers. Qualitative and quantitative methods were used to evaluate the effectiveness of the EEP. Qualitative data were analyzed with the "Coding Comparison Query" method available in the NVivo R1 program. An independent sample t-test was used to determine the attitudes and beliefs of the participants about marriage before and after the EEP. The findings of the research are as follows; EEP significantly improved the marriage attitudes and beliefs of married individuals. The qualitative and quantitative data obtained from the subjects supported each other. It has been concluded that EEP is effective. Considering the findings obtained from this study, EEP in Northern Cyprus can be organized by the Ministry of National Education and Culture (MEKB) for parents in schools in the context of adult education. EEP within formal education can be given by MEKB in the form of courses in accordance with the development levels of the students. In addition, EEP can be given to citizens by municipalities and non-governmental organizations as public education.