California Non-Profit Poised for Important Family Study

SAN DIEGO, Oct. 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Responding to the virtual realities brought about by technological advances and accelerated by COVID, Healthy Relationships California (HRC), the nation's largest Healthy Marriage/Responsible Fatherhood (HM/RF) education non-profit, is preparing to launch a three-year study on how modality of course delivery influences the effectiveness of HM/RF education on family outcomes.

"In the COVID-19 era, many HM/RF programs have migrated online, but the potential impact on program effectiveness is not well known," explains HRC President Patty Howell. "Whether it's a livestream workshop delivered via Zoom, or an online on-demand course completed at one's own pace, there haven't been studies assessing potential differences in HM/RF programs taught online versus live classes and livestream ones."

Traditionally a live-service-delivery organization, HRC pivoted to virtual services in Summer 2020 due to COVID restrictions—starting with livestream workshops and simultaneously developing their online on-demand programs, which will launch by the end of this year—and quickly realized the opportunity this transition could provide.

"We're in the perfect position to conduct an innovative research project to study the relative strengths of delivering the same curricula through three different modalities: Live, Livestream, and On-Demand," affirms K. Jason Krafsky, HRC Vice President and the Project Director for the organization's two Federally funded programs: Cal-FIRE, promoting Responsible Fatherhood, and REFRAME, focusing on Healthy Marriages. "We are excited to add vital knowledge to the field in this area."

HRC's study will consider the impact of the three program-delivery modalities on six family relationship outcomes:

• marital/relationship satisfaction;
• conflict management;
• support and affection;
• commitment;
• father involvement;
• co-parenting.

It is anticipated that over 3,000 participants will be enrolled during the three-year evaluation period.

"We are recruiting now for Livestream workshops starting in January 2022, while On-demand also will be available soon, and we are ready to resume Live workshops as soon as the public health situation in California allows for it," says Krafsky.

Contact HRC at [email protected] for more information about applying for upcoming workshops or partnering to serve your clients with HM/RF programs.

HRC has served over 250,000 individuals during the past 16 years with innovative HM/RF programming that teaches participants the communication and problem-solving skills that are key to establishing and maintaining healthy, successful relationships in all areas of life.

Contact:
Dyann Collins
TEL: 626.623.7036
EMAIL: [email protected]

SOURCE Healthy Relationships California