Professional Dissertations DMin

Date of Award

2011

Document Type

Project Report

Degree Name

Doctor of Ministry

College

Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary

Program

Doctor of Ministry DMin

First Advisor

Richard L. Trott

Second Advisor

Ron M. Flowers

Abstract

Problem. Marital satisfaction for couples in general, and among members of the Seventh-day Adventist church in particular, needs to be improved. Research indicates that marital well being and longevity are critical issues facing both the church and the wider culture. Development of strategies and programs designed to increase happiness within the marital union are vital for strengthening family, church, and community.

Method. A structured facilitation marriage enrichment program was developed and presented by the researcher and his wife in three Seventh-day Adventist churches in southern Maine over a ten week period. A pre-test and an identical post-test were administered to volunteer married participants at the beginning and end of the program. Results were tabulated to evaluate the effect of the program on the marital satisfaction of the couples in ten specific areas.

Results. All areas surveyed demonstrated an increase in marital satisfaction over the 10- week program. Statistically significant (p < .05) positive outcomes for marital satisfaction were found in 7 out of the 10 areas surveyed.

Conclusions. This study demonstrates the value of conducting research-based marriage enrichment programs in order to improve the marital satisfaction of married couples in the Seventh-day Adventist church. Larger sample studies would be helpful in the future to determine if results are replicated for similar marriage enrichment programs. Longitudinal studies could prove beneficial in evaluating the positive duration of the change in marital satisfaction.

Subject Area

Marriage--Religious aspects--Christianity, Marriage mentoring

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.

DOI

https://dx.doi.org/10.32597/dmin/68/

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