A randomized controlled trial of the online OurRelationship program with varying levels of coach support

Yunying Le; McKenzie K. Roddy; Karen Rothman; Emily Georgia Salivar; Shayna Guttman; Brian D. Doss

doi:10.1016/j.invent.2023.100661

A randomized controlled trial of the online OurRelationship program with varying levels of coach support

Yunying Le
, McKenzie K. Roddy
, Karen Rothman
, Emily Georgia Salivar
, Shayna Guttman
, Brian D. Doss

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Online programs that reduce relationship distress fill a critical need; however, their scalability is limited by their reliance on coach calls. To determine the effectiveness of the online OurRelationship program with varying levels of coach support, we conducted a comparative effectiveness trial with 740 low-income couples in the United States. Couples were randomly assigned to full-coach (ncouples = 226; program as originally designed), automated-coach (ncouples = 145; as a stand-alone program with tailored automated emails only), contingent-coach (ncouples = 145; as an adaptive program where tailored automated emails are followed by more coaching if couples did not meet progress milestones), or a waitlist control condition (ncouples = 224). All analyses were conducted within a Bayesian framework. Completion rates were comparable across conditions (full-coach: 65 %, automated-coach: 59 %, contingent-coach: 54 %). All intervention couples reported reliable pre-post gains in relationship satisfaction compared to waitlist control couples (dfull = 0.46, dcontingent = 0.47, and dautomated = 0.40) with no reliable differences across intervention conditions. Over four-month follow-up, couples in full- and contingent-coach conditions maintained gains in relationship satisfaction and couples in the automated-coach condition continued to improve. Given the comparable completion rates and minimal differences in effect sizes across intervention conditions, all three coaching models appear viable; therefore, the choice of model can vary depending on available resources as well as couple or stakeholder preferences. This study was preregistered (ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03568565).

Original language	English
Article number	100661
Number of pages	8
Journal	Internet Interventions
Volume	34
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.invent.2023.100661 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.invent.2023.100661
State	Published - Dec 2023

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023

Funding

Funding for this project was approved by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Grant 90FM0063. MKR is supported by the Vanderbilt Faculty Research Scholars. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families. Publication fee was supported by Open Access Publication Equity Fund from University of Denver awarded to YL.

Funders	Funder number
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services	90FM0063

ASJC Scopus Subject Areas

Health Informatics

Keywords

Automated coach support
Couple therapy
Digital health
Relationship satisfaction
Treatment effectiveness evaluation

Disciplines

Psychology

Access to Document

Cite this

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title = "A randomized controlled trial of the online OurRelationship program with varying levels of coach support",

abstract = "Online programs that reduce relationship distress fill a critical need; however, their scalability is limited by their reliance on coach calls. To determine the effectiveness of the online OurRelationship program with varying levels of coach support, we conducted a comparative effectiveness trial with 740 low-income couples in the United States. Couples were randomly assigned to full-coach (ncouples = 226; program as originally designed), automated-coach (ncouples = 145; as a stand-alone program with tailored automated emails only), contingent-coach (ncouples = 145; as an adaptive program where tailored automated emails are followed by more coaching if couples did not meet progress milestones), or a waitlist control condition (ncouples = 224). All analyses were conducted within a Bayesian framework. Completion rates were comparable across conditions (full-coach: 65 \%, automated-coach: 59 \%, contingent-coach: 54 \%). All intervention couples reported reliable pre-post gains in relationship satisfaction compared to waitlist control couples (dfull = 0.46, dcontingent = 0.47, and dautomated = 0.40) with no reliable differences across intervention conditions. Over four-month follow-up, couples in full- and contingent-coach conditions maintained gains in relationship satisfaction and couples in the automated-coach condition continued to improve. Given the comparable completion rates and minimal differences in effect sizes across intervention conditions, all three coaching models appear viable; therefore, the choice of model can vary depending on available resources as well as couple or stakeholder preferences. This study was preregistered (ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03568565). ",

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doi = "10.1016/j.invent.2023.100661",

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AU - Guttman, Shayna

AU - Doss, Brian D.

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A randomized controlled trial of the online OurRelationship program with varying levels of coach support

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

ASJC Scopus Subject Areas

Keywords

Disciplines

Access to Document

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