Strategies for Addressing Common Implementation Challenges in Healthy Marriage and Relationship Education Programs: A Guide for Supporting Program Improvement Efforts

This guide presents promising approaches and strategies for addressing implementation challenges common to HMRE services. While the promising approaches and strategies included in this guide have not yet been tested for effectiveness, they are based on the academic literature and consultation with experts and could be implemented and tested in specific contexts. The overall purpose of this guide is to support continued research on how these strategies can be implemented and tested in new contexts and the types of adaptations that might be needed to support positive outcomes. Using the information presented, HMRE service providers can tailor these strategies to fit individual program contexts and test them through CQI efforts.

To use this guide, practitioners should follow three steps:

1. Step 1: Map specific challenges to approaches. Use the tables in the guide to identify common challenges based on implementation area—recruitment, retention, or content engagement. These tables also link specific challenges to approaches. Users should work to understand the key drivers of their challenges and then review these tables to identify potential approaches.
2. Step 2: Explore the strategies listed under the approach to determine fit and feasibility. Users should review each relevant approach for specific strategies that might address their challenge, noting populations and implementation areas relevant to the strategy. Users should also consider whether specific strategies are feasible and appropriate to implement in the near term and long term, given their program’s context.
3. Step 3: Refine the strategy and develop an implementation plan that details how the program will use and test the strategy. It is important to remember that this guide is only a starting point. The strategies listed in each approach are intentionally general and require work to adapt them to the context of the population a program serves and to test them as part of program improvement efforts. We provide additional guidance at the end of the guide on how to incorporate, refine, and test these strategies as part of CQI efforts.

The study team gathered a wide range of various information sources, including peer-reviewed journal articles, HMRE grantee reports, and expert interviews and engagements. They coded information across these sources to glean emergent themes related to common challenges and strategies for adult- and youth-serving programs. The study team then categorized the strategies into several broader approaches each consisting of a suite of more specific strategies. Finally, the team held a brainstorming session with experts to vet the approaches for feasibility and relevance to the field. This process resulted in a diverse set of six approaches and strategies that are relevant for a broad range of HMRE service providers. Further information is provided in the technical appendix of the guide.

Friend, Daniel, Lauren Mattox, Annie Buonaspina, Avery Hennigar, Scott Baumgartner, and Angela Valdovinos D’Angelo (2022). Strategies for addressing common implementation challenges in healthy marriage and relationship education programs: A guide for supporting design and improvement efforts, OPRE Report #2022-314, Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.