Using research to inform HRMET curriculum design and to document training impact.
In the early development of the curriculum, a statewide survey was conducted in Missouri and North Carolina to understand the attitudes of child welfare professionals towards the role of relationship and marriage education in their work with vulnerable children and families. Learn more:
From May 2011 through August 2013, 52 trainings were conducted with 1375 professionals across the five project states. Participants were surveyed prior to and following each training in order to document immediate (and sustained) changes in participants knowledge of the training content and confidence in utililizing the tools with clients. As well, follow-up surveys documented how participants applied the training tools in their work. Learn more:
A 14-week graduate course was developed based on the HRMET curriculum and offered at the University of Missouri by Dr. Dave Schramm. The course, "Couple and Marital Relationships in Child Welfare," was cross listed through the Department of Human Development and Family Studies and the Department of Social Work and taught Fall 2010, 2011, and 2012. Learn more:
Scarrow, A., Fuhrman, N., & Futris. T.G. (2015) Engaging and training professionals to implement family strengthening programs: Lessons learned. Journal of Extension [On-line], 53 (5). Available at http://www.joe.org/joe/2015october/a3.php
Futris, T. G., & Schramm, D. G. (2015) The healthy relationship and marriage education training project: Lessons learned in program development. Journal of Extension [On-line], 53 (3). Available at http://www.joe.org/joe/2015june/a4.php
Futris, T. G., Schramm, D. G., Richardson, E. W., & Lee, T., K. (2015). Integrating relationship education into child welfare services: The Impact of Organizational Support on the Transfer of Learning to Practice. Children and Youth Services Review, 51, 36-43. doi:10.1016/j.childyouth.2015.01.019
Scarrow, A., Futris, T. G., Fuhrman, N. E. (2014). The factors associated with child welfare professionals’ application of relationship education. Children and Youth Services Review,46, 265-275. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2014.08.023
Futris, T. G., Schramm, D., Lee, T. K., Thurston, W. D., and Barton, A. W. (2014). Training child welfare professionals to support healthy couple relationships: Examining the link to training transfer. Journal of Public Child Welfare, 8 (5), 560-583. doi: 10.1080/15548732.2014.953719
Schramm, D., Futris, T. G., Galovan, A. M., & Allen, K. (2013). Is relationship and marriage education relevant and appropriate to child welfare? Children and Youth Services Review, 35 (3), 429-438. doi: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2012.12.013
“Strengthening the marital dyad helps the family as a whole, but it especially helps the children in the family who are typically triangulated into a dysfunctional dyad.”
Arkansas