STRATEGIC HOPE-FOCUSED RELATIONSHIP-ENRICHMENT COUNSELING WITH INDIVIDUAL COUPLES

Strategic hope-focused relationship enrichment is a brief, eclectic, r esearch-based program to enhance couples' relationships. Couples (N = 51; 16 married, 24 cohabiting, II engaged) completed 5 sessions of enr ichment counseling (n = 26) or 3 written assessments (n = 25) from 1 o f 12 counselors. Couples receiving enrichment counseling had higher re lationship satisfaction and quality-of-couple skills at posttest and a t the 3-week follow-up than did written-assessment-only (control) coup les. Conditions did not differ in terms of quality of overall attracti on or 2 measures of commitment. We concluded that relationship enrichm ent using this program was effective, powerful, and cost-effective. Fu ture research should focus on testing the effectiveness of the program presented in a group format.