Impacts of Parents Forever on Parental Behavior and Adjustment During Divorce: A Short-Term Follow-Up Evaluation Study

Parents Forever: Evaluation of an Online Divorce Education Program

“…This indicates that timing could be an important moderator of program effectiveness; women who reported being in the divorce process at follow-up also reported higher levels of conflict with their coparent than women who reported being completed with the divorce process. This finding is in contrast to that of Brotherson et al (2012) that timing of the divorce process was unrelated to reported outcomes at followup. However, divorce is an acrimonious and painful experience, and often couples experience intense conflict while issues of custody and finances are still being negotiated.…”

“…Brotherson et al (2012) found some influence of gender in participants' scores at follow-up, with men reporting a significantly greater degree of change in negative divorce-related behaviors than women, but the effect size of this finding was very small. In the Owen and Rhoades (2012) study of an intervention with a small sample of high-conflict couples, the authors reported that men and women displayed different trajectories over time in reported conflict and coparenting.…”

“…In 2007, North Dakota State University (NDSU) Extension Service elected to teach only the parent-child component of Parents Forever. Brotherson, White, and Masich (2010) and Brotherson, Rittenbach, and White (2012) found participants in that version of the program reported high levels of satisfaction and increased knowledge immediately after taking the class and reported significant positive improvement in behavior at a 2-month follow-up.…”

“…The last 15 questions were about behavioral skills such as parenting behaviors, self-care, and managing conflict. Behavioral skills questions related to divorce were based on those asked by Brotherson et al (2010) and Brotherson et al (2012). The online posttest consisted of 30 questions.…”

Couple Relationship Education: Before and During COVID-19

“…Relationship education (RE) has continued to grow as a way to promote personal, family, and child well-being and the development of healthy relationship skills ( Markman & Rhoades, 2012 ). RE programing has been designed to improve relationships among a wide range of audiences, including youth and single adults ( Van Epp, 2015 ), couples and parents ( Cline & Fay, 1990 ; Van Epp, 2014 ), fathers ( Brown et al, 2018 ; Van Epp, 2016 ), stepfamilies (Authors), and divorcing parents ( Brotherson et al, 2012 ; Feng & Fine, 2001 ). RE takes place in a variety of venues outside of traditional educational settings, including community workshops or in-home sessions facilitated by family life educators ( Allen, 2013 ; Darling & Cassidy, 2014 ).…”