Participation Patterns in Three Healthy Marriage and Relationship Education Programs for Adults with Low Incomes: Lessons for the Field

This report describes typical patterns of participation in three programs that were part of the STREAMS evaluation. It identifies distinct patterns of participation in each of these programs and provides profiles of the clients who participate in these distinct ways. Earlier evaluation reports provided detailed information on the programs’ design and implementation during the first year of the impact study and described the programs’ impacts after one year.

• For each program, cluster analysis identified three groups of clients defined by the extent of their participation in the program. We labeled these groups full engagers, moderate engagers, and low engagers.
• We examined clients’ extent of participation in MotherWise’s three key program elements: (1) the core workshop, (2) case management, and (3) the optional couples’ workshop. We found clients who were older and those in steady romantic relationships with their baby’s father were more engaged in the program than others. Clients who participated more fully tended to have enrolled postpartum, whereas those with low participation were more likely to have enrolled during pregnancy.
• We examined clients’ extent of participation in Career STREAMS’s three key program elements: (1) the two-week workshop, (2) one-on-one case management and job development, and (3) weekly one-hour booster sessions offered after the two-week workshop. We found full engagers were more likely than other clients to have worked recently, and they had fewer barriers to employment. Low engagers received the fewest program services and also tended to be clients who were most in need of employment support.
• For Empowering Families clients, we examined their extent of participation in four program components that partners could engage in together or separately: (1) the core workshop, (2) case management, (3) employment coaching, and (4) financial counseling. Spanish-speaking couples were more likely to fully engage with program services than were English speakers. Couples with more stable relationship and economic circumstances were also more likely to participate fully in Empowering Families services. Couples who were married, had children with no other partners, and had higher earnings had higher participation rates.

To understand typical patterns of participation and who participates in these ways, we used a statistical method called cluster analysis to identify groups of people with similar patterns of participation across each program’s key components. We defined multiple measures of participation for each program component to capture different dimensions of engagement. For each program, the cluster analysis algorithm then identified sets of common patterns across all the participation measures. We selected the set of patterns where we found the most meaningful differences in background characteristics across the client groups. We examined these participation patterns and the characteristics of the clients in each group to better understand their backgrounds and how they made use of program services. Data on measures of participation and client characteristics came from the Information, Family Outcomes, Reporting, and Management (nFORM) information system used by federal HMRE grantees and a baseline survey collected before program participation as part of the STREAMS impact evaluation.

Participation in HMRE programs can vary substantially, with some clients fully engaging in all the services offered and others participating in these services little or not at all. This report used data analytic methods to analyze patterns of participation in three HMRE programs—MotherWise, Career STREAMS, and Empowering Families—that were part of the STREAMS evaluation. Patterns and profiles varied across programs, but two cross-cutting findings emerged.

• Clients with the most stable relationship and employment histories engaged most fully with HMRE program services. A consistent pattern across the three programs is that clients in more stable circumstances were more likely to engage fully with program services. For example, women who engaged most fully with MotherWise services were more likely than other clients to be in a stable relationship with their baby’s father when they enrolled in the program. Similarly, couples who fully engaged with Empowering Families services were more likely than other couples in the program to be married to each other and to have no children with other partners. Those with more stable employment also received more services from the programs. Full engagers in Career STREAMS and Empowering Families reported fewer barriers to employment than other clients in those programs. Conversely, those potentially most in need of the supports the programs offered were least likely to fully engage in program services. For instance, Career STREAMS and Empowering Families clients who received few services were generally more likely to be actively looking for work and more likely to report barriers to employment. Similarly, those who were not in steady romantic relationships were generally less likely to participate fully in program services. Programs may need to make special efforts to keep these clients in less stable circumstances engaged.
• Spanish-speaking clients may be particularly receptive to HMRE services. In the two programs we examined that served both English- and Spanish-speaking clients—MotherWise and Empowering Families—Spanish-speaking clients had higher rates of participation in all program components. These programs had bilingual staff members and offered all services in English and Spanish. Their intensive efforts to offer a full set of program services in Spanish likely contributed to their success in engaging Spanish speakers. Moreover, many Spanish-speaking clients in these programs were born outside the United States and may have especially valued the sense of community the workshops provided, as well as the programs’ assistance in accessing resources such as English classes, GED programs, and financial services. These findings suggest that, with appropriate investments, programs can successfully engage Spanish speakers in HMRE services.

Careful examination of program participation patterns using data analytic methods can provide insights for HMRE program providers as they consider ways to adapt recruitment strategies, programming, and service delivery to promote clients’ attendance and completion. Providers can use this information on how clients engage in program services in different ways and how this varies by their characteristics to inform their work with current and future clients—helping them identify which clients may need extra attention and support to fully engage in program services. These insights can help programs strengthen program implementation and improve their ability to meet performance standards. Future work should examine data from a larger set of HMRE programs to determine whether these patterns apply more broadly.

Sarah Dolfin, Joanne Lee, Robert G. Wood, and Mia Monkovic (2022). Participation patterns in three healthy marriage and relationship education programs for adults with low incomes: Lessons for the field. OPRE Report 2022-117, Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.