Motivations to Enroll and Engage in Relationship Education Programs: A Qualitative Investigation of Key Process Factors

Empirical support for relationship education (RE) programs is primarily based in quantitative research methods, leaving gaps in understanding the experience of couples and individuals who participate in RE programs. Further, a more focused understanding on how to attract and maintain program participants is necessary, in order to better address participant engagement barriers and to ultimately strengthen a program's potential impact. This study presents findings from three focus groups with participants (N = 20) who enrolled in RE workshops. We conducted consensual qualitative research (CQR; Hill et al., Journal of Counseling Psychology, 52(2), 196-205, 2005; Hill et al., The Counseling Psychologist, 25(4), 517-572, 1997), reaching consensus on six domains and 16 categories through the systematic process of examining the representativeness across cases. The resulting model offers implications for future RE programs to focus their efforts on recruitment and retention, ultimately increasing their impact with individuals and couples.