Psychology

Addressing relationship health needs in primary care: adapting the marriage checkup for use in medical settings with military couples

Document Type

Article

Abstract

The overall objective of this study was to pilot the Marriage Checkup (MC), a brief intervention for enhancing marital resiliency tailored to a military population, for use by internal behavioral health consultants (IBHCs) working in an integrated primary care clinic. The MC was revised to fit into the fast-paced environment of primary care (e.g., streamlined to fit within three 30-min appointments), and military-relevant material was added to the content. IBHCs working in primary care were then trained to offer the intervention. Thirty participants were enrolled in the study and completed a relationship checkup and one-month follow-up questionnaires. Analysis of post-test and one-month follow-up data showed statistically significant improvements in participants’ marital health compared to pre-treatment. The MC intervention appeared to be well received by both couples and IBHCs.

Publication Title

Journal of Clinical Psychology in Medical Settings

Publication Date

2017

Volume

24

Issue

3-4

First Page

259

Last Page

269

ISSN

1068-9583

DOI

10.1007/s10880-017-9517-8

Keywords

brief couple therapy, military, primary care, relationships

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