Marriage checkup in integrated primary care: A randomized controlled trial with active-duty military couples.

Brief relationship support as a selective suicide prevention intervention: Piloting the Relationship Checkup in veteran couples with relationship and mental health concerns

“…First and foremost, the current study is a small pilot using a single group design and focuses on within-person change that may reflect regression to the mean. Although the within-person improvements in relationship functioning and depression replicate those observed in larger non-clinical populations (Cigrang et al, 2022;Cordova et al, 2014;Gray et al, 2020), studies using RCT designs in elevated-risk populations are needed. Secondly, the current study excluded the most acute participants and did not include extended follow-up, which may limit conclusions drawn about rare events like suicidal behavior.…”

“…The RC follows the assessment process with a feedback session where therapists use motivational interviewing techniques (Miller & Rollnick, 2013) to help couples commit to immediate concrete steps to improve their relationship. Across two decades of trials, the RC has consistently demonstrated small to moderate benefits to emotional intimacy and relationship quality maintained up to 12 months after treatment in married couples (Cordova et al, 2001(Cordova et al, , 2005(Cordova et al, , 2014, low-income unmarried couples (Coop Gordon et al, 2019;Trillingsgaard et al, 2016), military couples (Cigrang et al, 2022;Cordova et al, 2017), expecting parents (Darling et al, 2022), and LGBTQ+ couples (Gray et al, 2022). The RC emphasis on mutual support and collaboration towards goals may also address core interpersonal needs, as individuals will feel more connected to a mutually supportive relationship (potentially increasing belongingness) and like they are contributors to their partners' goals (potentially reducing burdensomeness).…”

“…The present study is a nonrandomized pilot trial of RC delivered as a selective prevention program for couples experiencing the dual suicide risk factors of relationship distress and mental health problems. For this trial, we use the brief RC version consisting of three 30-min sessions designed for use in integrated primary care settings (Cigrang et al, 2016(Cigrang et al, , 2022Cordova et al, 2017). This trial extends prior work by recruiting distressed couples where a veteran has a positive VA mental health screen.…”

Randomized controlled trial of the Marriage Checkup: Stress outcomes

“…The MC has shown positive effects in several studies including American and Danish randomized‐controlled trials (RCTs) that found small to medium effects of two annual checkups on measures of relationship functioning (e.g., Cordova, Fleming, et al, 2014 ; Trillingsgaard et al, 2016 ) and on individual depressive symptoms (Cigrang et al, 2022 ; Gray et al, 2020 ). Furthermore, a recent RCT found that a subsample of responder couples benefitting from two checkups could maintain most of their improvements across a 5‐year booster session period (Leth‐Nissen et al, 2022 ).…”

“…Furthermore, a recent RCT found that a subsample of responder couples benefitting from two checkups could maintain most of their improvements across a 5‐year booster session period (Leth‐Nissen et al, 2022 ). Additionally, the MC has been successfully adapted to different populations, for example, low‐income at‐risk couples (Gordon et al, 2019 ), same‐sex couples (Minten & Dykeman, 2019 ), perinatal couples (Darling et al, 2021 ), transgender couples (pilot study by Minten & Dykeman, 2021 ), and military couples (Cigrang et al, 2022 ).…”