Digital interventions for couples: State of the field and future directions.

Abstract

Intimate relationship distress harms physical and mental health, and effective couple therapies are underutilized due to barriers to access. Digital couples' interventions (DCIs), including online and mobile programs, can improve access to effective relationship help. This paper outlines the state of the DCI field by describing seven currently available, empirically based DCIs and discussing key design and implementation issues along four key dimensions: Target populations, coaching, linked users, and intimate partner violence (IPV). Analysis of these issues points to a need for greater clarification of whether the program is intended for distressed couples (i.e., prevention vs. treatment) and for coaching models grounded in both theoretical principles and empirical evidence. Further, DCIs must continue to develop ways of addressing issues of safety and privacy that impact IPV risk, particularly when DCIs become available to the public outside the context of a research study. More research on DCIs is needed, both regarding overall effectiveness of the programs and on specific empirical questions regarding the most effective models of coaching, best practices for handling IPV, identifying which couples can benefit most from DCIs, and the role of individual versus dyadic work in self-directed relationship intervention. Although most DCIs are at the early phases of clinical validation, the available outcomes are encouraging and suggest a promising future for DCIs in improving access to effective relationship intervention.

Mediating role of dyadic satisfaction on social support and health outcomes in a sample of military family care-givers

“…Research has shown that interventions addressing dyads can reliably improve DS and may be useful in this regard, but they should be tailored to the unique needs of MFCs, who are often different from their civilian counterparts. 45,46 For example, one study on caregivers using a psycho-education intervention for dyads (caregiver and care recipient) found positive effects on mental, emotional, and functional HOs, as well as on self-efficacy. 47 Likewise, on the basis of research supporting direct links between social support and DS, 17 behavioural interventions targeting mental HOs might consider incorporating strategies for enhancing social support and support networks.…”

Connection at your fingertips: A first look at the Agapé app’s contributions to healthy relationships.

“…One approach to facilitating dissemination has been to translate skill-based workshops into brief self-directed online programs (see Knopp et al, 2021, for a review). Notable examples of this include the electronic version of the Prevention and Relationship Enhancement Program and OurRelationship, which have demonstrated benefits for relationships (e.g., Braithwaite & Fincham, 2009, 2011; Doss et al, 2016, 2019).…”

More–than–relationship quality: A feminist new materialist analysis of relationship quality and the potential of digital couple interventions

“…The seemingly inexorable direction of travel toward digital intimacies must therefore be embraced with some degree of caution. The rapid growth of the digital health market and ever‐increasing range of apps available need to be equally matched by robust multidimensional evaluations (Hay, 2016; Knopp et al, 2021) which are crucial for developing the evidence‐base for relationship interventions. Below we set out how evaluations of digital interventions might benefit from a practices approach and engage with the challenges to epistemological and ontological certainties posed by feminist new materialisms.…”