An Implementation Study of Relationship Checkups as Home Visitations for Low-Income At-Risk Couples.

Couples with the greatest need for relationship health maintenance and intervention are often least able to afford and access it; therefore, accessible, affordable, effective, and brief interventions are needed to improve relationship health for those who need it most. Consequently, this paper examined whether a brief relationship intervention could be effectively implemented with a low-income, underserved population. All enrolled participants (N = 1,312) received the Relationship Checkup, which consists of an assessment and a feedback session delivered in their homes or at a local clinic at their request. Measures assessed relationship satisfaction, communication, psychological and physical aggression, and intimacy at baseline and 1-month follow-up, and program and relationship satisfaction at 6-month follow-up. All participants reported significant improvements on all outcomes with small effect sizes. However, moderation analyses suggested that distressed couples reported significantly larger effects across the board. Overall, participants reported that they were highly satisfied with the intervention both immediately after its delivery and 6 months later. Findings provide preliminary support for the effectiveness of this brief checkup and point to the utility of offering these kinds of low-cost brief interventions in flexible formats for those who might have the most difficulty accessing them.

Las parejas más necesitadas de mantenimiento e intervención para la salud de sus relaciones son con frecuencia las menos equipadas para costear y obtenerlos; por lo tanto, las intervenciones accesibles, asequibles, efectivas y breves son necesarias para mejorar la salud de las relaciones de aquéllos que más lo necesitan. Por consiguiente, este artículo examinó si sería posible implementar una intervención breve para relaciones con una población subatendida de bajo ingreso. Todos los participantes inscritos (N = 1312) recibieron un Control de Relación, que consiste en una evaluación y una sesión de comentarios realizadas en sus hogares o en una clínica local a petición de ellos. Las medidas evaluaron la satisfacción en la relación, comunicación, agresión psicológica y física, e intimidad en la línea de base y en un seguimiento después de un mes, así como satisfacción con el programa y con la relación en un seguimiento después de seis meses. Todos los participantes informaron mejoras sustanciales en todos los resultados con tamaños de efecto pequeños. Sin embargo, análisis de moderación sugirieron que las parejas angustiadas informaron efectos considerablemente mayores en todos los renglones. En general, los participantes informaron que estaban sumamente satisfechos con la intervención tanto inmediatamente después de realizarse como seis meses después. Los hallazgos proporcionan apoyo preliminar a la efectividad de este control breve y señalan la utilidad de ofrecer estos tipos de intervenciones breves de bajo costo en formatos flexibles para aquéllos que podrían tener mayores dificultades para obtenerlos.

Stakeholder perspectives on outpatient services performance: what patients, clinicians and managers want to know.

The development of performance measures in outpatient services is trailing in the wake of an emphasis on inpatient measures. Research was undertaken at The Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital (RVEEH) to determine key areas for the development of performance measures in eye outpatient services from the perspective of three stakeholder groups: clinicians, managers and patients. The study identified four key areas for the development of performance measurement: waiting time to first outpatient appointment, patient discharge from outpatient clinics, waiting time in clinic and patient throughput. It was also shown that there are some significant differences of opinion between stakeholder groups. Such similarities and differences are unlikely to be unique to RVEEH and may serve as useful prompts for other organisations considering outpatient performance measures.