Highlights from the Strengthening Relationship Education and Marriage Services (STREAMS) Evaluation

To provide a window into federally funded HMRE programs—their goals, their services, and the people they serve—this digital report presents highlights from STREAMS. It describes five grant recipients that participated in the evaluation and the services they provided. It also summarizes key findings from the evaluation and provides links to other evaluation resources and reports. To capture the perspectives and experiences of the people most directly affected by the programs, the report also features recorded video interviews with some of the program staff and participants who contributed to STREAMS.

• Federally funded HMRE programs serve diverse populations. ACF’s prior evaluations of federally funded HMRE programs mostly focused on the implementation and impacts of HMRE programming for adult couples. Yet ACF also funds many HMRE programs that serve youth and individual adults. To expand the evidence base on federally funded HMRE programs and reflect the range of HMRE programs funded by ACF, STREAMS included programs serving youth and individual adults in addition to programs for adult couples.
• HMRE grantees must use diverse strategies to appeal to the diversity in their local communities. Federally funded HMRE programs are always voluntary. The participants in STREAMS expressed varied reasons for enrolling in HMRE programs. To raise awareness of their programs, the sites in STREAMS used multiple strategies, including developing recruitment or referral partners, hiring staff devoted to recruitment, and advertising through social media.
• Federally funded HMRE programs offer a mix of services. The programs in STREAMS all featured a primary HMRE group workshop designed to teach participants healthy relationship skills. Although the workshop content was rooted in romantic relationships, it also drew connections between romantic relationships and other aspects of participants’ lives, such as workplace relationships and parenting. Because many participants enroll in an HMRE program with more or different needs than a group workshop alone can address, most programs in STREAMS supplemented their core group workshops with case management and one-on-one support services.
• Regular attendance is essential in helping programs achieve their intended outcomes. Consistent attendance and participation helps ensure HMRE program participants learn and practice the skills taught in the workshops. To help participants overcome potential barriers to attendance, the programs in STREAMS provided supports such as transportation assistance, meals, and child care. All the programs serving adults offered financial incentives (linked to attendance) that met the guidelines of their federal grants. Although many STREAMS participants said the financial incentives were important to them, they also cited their relationships with program staff and other program participants as important motivators for sustained attendance.
• Program leaders and staff are central to success. A spirit of service was common across program leadership and staff. Program leaders explained how they sought to employ staff with a passion for the program’s work and for helping others and their communities. They also cited strong communication among program leadership and staff as a key component of operating their programs successfully. This positive organizational culture extended to service delivery partners.
• HMRE programs seek to change a range of outcomes related to healthy relationships, parenting, and well-being. A program’s specific goals and intended outcomes can vary depending on the program setting, the types of participants, and the range of services it offers. For STREAMS, the evaluation team defined different sets of outcomes for each site. The outcomes included measures of co-parenting quality, economic well-being, communication and conflict management skills, attitudes toward cohabitation and marriage, and relationship quality and status.

This digital report summarizes findings from several previously released reports, including reports on site-specific impact and implementation studies. For the impact studies, the evaluation team used random assignment evaluation designs to test a series of research questions that were unique to each site. The team also analyzed the study data and reported the impact findings separately for each site. To support site-specific research questions and analyses, the evaluation required large samples ranging from 879 to 1,862 individuals or couples per site. For the implementation studies, the evaluation team documented how each site designed and implemented its program, including successes and challenges. The evaluation drew on data from baseline and follow-up surveys of program participants; administrative wage and employment records; semi-structured interviews, focus groups, and observations; program enrollment and participation records; and a survey of program staff.

Friend, Daniel, Katie Bodenlos, Brian Goesling, Svetlana Sadovskaya, Brandon Hollie, and Julia Alamillo.  (2022). Highlights from the Strengthening Relationship Education and Marriage Service (STREAMS) Evaluation, OPRE Report #2022-311, Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.