Persons trained, like Rev. Jim Anderson, in the PREPARE/ENRICH Program have been trained to give you feedback.  PREPARE/ENRICH is a customized couple assessment completed online that identifies a couple's strength and growth areas. It is one of the most widely used Programs for premarital counseling and premarital education. But there are also customized versions of the inventory used for marriage counseling, marriage enrichment, and dating couples considering engagement. Based on a couple's assessment results, a trained facilitator provides 4-8 feedback sessions in which the facilitator helps the couple discuss and understand their results as they are taught proven relationship skills.

Why not just take the Couple Checkup?

The Couple Checkup is a version of this inventory that does not include feedback from a trained professional.  Clergy who are providing feedback using the Couple Checkup, are not trained for this.  There was a study reported in Marriage & Family Journal in 2003 on this concern.  This study evaluated the effectiveness of the PREPARE Program (Version 2000) for couples receiving premarital counseling by professionals and clergy who were trained to provide feedback. There were 153 premarital couples in three groups: the PREPARE Program group (59 couples who received an average of four feedback sessions), the PREPARE No Feedback group (46 couples who received feedback after the post-test), and the Waiting List Control Group (48 couples who received PREPARE and feedback after the post-test).

Results found that only the PREPARE Program group significantly increased their couple satisfaction, while there was no change in the PREPARE No Feedback or the Waiting List Control groups. Couples in the PREPARE Program improved in 10 out of 13 relationship categories, while those in the PREPARE No Feedback group increased in 4 of the 13 categories.

Significant changes were made in the couple types only in the PREPARE Program group, demonstrating a significant impact on 90% of these couples. In the PREPARE Program group, the number of Vitalized couples (the most satisfied type) increased by 52% from pre to post-test. Over half (55%) of the three other couple types (Harmonious, Traditional, and Conflicted) increased one or more levels. For the highest risk couples, the Conflicted types, 83% moved to a more positive couple type.

PREPARE has validity in that it discriminates premarital couples that get divorced from those that are happily married with about 80-85% accuracy. Reliability is high (alpha reliability of .80 - .85). However, this inventory is not used to determine a couple's potential success in marriage in premarital counseling.

An important strength of the PREPARE/ENRICH Inventories is their strong psychometric properties. High levels of reliability and validity have been found for each instrument, making them valuable tools for research as well as clinical use.