Evaluating a Short Duration Relationship and Marriage Education (RME) Event Across Time and Format: 8 Years of Learning

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic changed how short-term relationship and marriage education (RME) reached participants for events such as the Utah Marriage Celebration Conference. This article examines participant-perceived relationship knowledge from an annual marriage conference that began prior to the pandemic and has continued through the disruption (from 2015 through 2022). Results indicate this short-duration marriage conference does improve participant-perceived knowledge across years [t(2381) = 59.84, p = .001]. Further, results indicate that online participants rate their perceived relationship knowledge as higher than in-person participants at both pre [F(1, 2752) = 153.0, p = .001] and post [F(7, 2594) = 25.14, p = .001]. Results also indicate differences in perceived knowledge by participant age, replicating previous results from this specific program. While participants may desire the ease and convenience of online learning, results suggest that a mixed modality yields the best learning outcomes for participants. Suggestions and recommendations for future short-term RME are provided as it continues to be necessary to navigate post-pandemic educational environments.

Keywords

• relationship marriage education (rme)
• online learning
• marriage
• couple relationships
• extension