Help for Your Future or Present Marriage: Prepare Enrich

Cory Collins is a licensed facilitator of Prepare Enrich. He does not charge for his assistance.

Prepare Enrich is a tool that assesses couple relationships. It is not exactly a test that people can pass or fail, but a device to measure the strengths and possible growth areas of a couple's relationship.

1. What is the Prepare Enrich assessment?

2. How many people have taken the Prepare Enrich assessment?

3. What are the different inventories?

4. What are the major goals of the Prepare Enrich assessment?

5. What relationship areas are assessed by the Inventories?

6. What evidence is there that the Prepare Enrich assessment is valid and reliable?

7. Who developed the Prepare Enrich assessment?

8. How much does it cost to take the Prepare Enrich assessment?

9. How does a couple sign up?

10. What happens next?

1. What is the Prepare Enrich assessment?
The Prepare Enrich Premarital Assessment is a program based on a set of five inventories that examine major relationship issues a couple may experience. These inventories must be administered by a trained Prepare Enrich Premarital Assessment assessor and include feedback in which the counselor facilitates discussion between the couple based on their inventory results.

2. How many people have taken the Prepare Enrich assessment?
Over 2 million couples (4 million people) have taken the Prepare Enrich Premarital Assessment since it began in 1980.

3. What inventories are available?
Depending on your relational situation you will select one of the following:

- Prepare – Pre-marital couples
- Enrich – Married couples with or without children
- Mate – Couples over the age of 50

4. What are the major goals of the Prepare Enrich program?

There are six goals of the Prepare Enrich program. In order to achieve these goals there are also six corresponding couple exercises designed to help couples improve their relationship skills. The six goals are:

1. To explore Relationship Strengths and Growth Areas
2. To learn Assertiveness and Active Listening Skills
3. To learn how to resolve conflict using the Ten Step Model
4. To help the couple discuss their Family-of-Origin
5. To help the couple with financial planning and budgeting
6. To focus on personal, couple and family goals

5. What relationship areas are assessed by the Inventories?

The following are the 20 relationship areas assessed in each of the five Couple Inventories:

A. Assessment of Significant Issues for Couples (14 scales)

Communication
Conflict Resolution
Personality Issues
Financial Management
Sexual Expectations
Marital Satisfaction
Leisure Activities
Children and Parenting
Family and Friends
Expectations/Cohabitation Issues
Idealistic Distortion
Role Relationship
Spiritual Beliefs

B. Personality Assessment (4 scales):
Assertiveness
Self Confidence
Avoidance
Partner Dominance

C. Couple and Family Map (4 scales):
Family-of-Origin Closeness
Family-of-Origin Flexibility
Couple Closeness
Couple Flexibility

6. What evidence is there that the Prepare Enrich assessment is valid and reliable?

An important strength of the Prepare Enrich Premarital Assessment is its 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. The national norm base, validity and reliability information are listed below.

National Norms based on:
500,000 couples for Prepare
250,000 couples for Enrich
150,000 couples for Mate

High Levels of Validity and Reliability:
Prepare Enrich 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).

7. Who developed the Prepare Enrich assessment inventories?

David H. Olson, Ph.D
Professor Emeritus, Family Social Science, University of Minnesota & President, Life Innovations; Developed ten diagnostic tools and Circumplex Model; Licensed Consulting Psychologist and Licensed Marital & Family Therapist, State of Minnesota.

Joan M. Druckman, Ph.D
Marriage and Family Counselor, Palo Alto, California; Co-directed study on "Effectiveness of Five Types of Premarital Preparation Programs."

David G. Fournier, Ph.D
Associate Professor, Child and Family Development, Oklahoma State University; completed study of reliability and validity of Prepare. Former Director, Marital & Family Therapy Program.

8. How much does it cost to take the Prepare Enrich assessment?

The company charges $35 per couple. Cory Collins does not charge for his assistance as a facilitator.

9. How does a couple sign up?

A couple may not sign up directly, but only by meeting with any licensed facilitator. The facilitator will register the couple by submitting their email addresses to the company. The company will then email the couple. The couple will pay online and take the inventory online.

10. What happens next?

The facilitator will receive a detailed report from the company. The couple will then meet with the facilitator several times to go over the results and go through the various exercises.

Here is the company’s website: https://www.prepare-enrich.com