Symposia
Couples / Close Relationships
Ronald D. Rogge, Ph.D.
University of Rochester
Rochester, New York
Jenna Macri, PhD
Senior Research Associate
Agape Wellness Inc.
Rochester, New York
Background: Given the high rates of relationship discord and dissolution within the United States, a growing line of research has developed relationship interventions to help strengthen relationships and prevent the onset of relationship discord and disruption. Despite promising programs, dissemination remains a critical concern for most existing programs. Building on recent findings supporting a self-directed intervention that uses popular movies and TV shows to spark meaningful conversations in relationships, the current project sought to develop a relationship wellness app for smart phones that uses daily prompts to spark conversations in romantic relationships thereby providing a more immediate and potentially viral method of dissemination.
APP DEVELOPMENT: Once both partners in a couple have paired their accounts, the Agapé app sends them a prompt once per day (e.g., If you were going to give your partner an award, what would it be for and why?). When both partners have answered the prompt, they can then see one another’s responses. Over the last 2 years, we have developed and piloted over 700 daily prompts with content based on current research in the field. Pilot Sample 1 – A sample of 80 couples piloted a text message based minimum value product (MVP) of the app across 4 months with a 96% retention of daily users. Pilot Sample 2 – A sample of 320 couples then piloted a progressive web app MVP for 1 month with similarly high levels of retention. Based on user feedback, we developed stand alone apps for both the Google Play and Apple app stores which now have over 120,000 downloads and over 11,000 daily users.
Method: We have just begun recruiting 500 couples for participation in a single-group treatment study. Couples are being recruited within the app and, with roughly 300 new users each day, we anticipate recruiting our sample within a couple weeks. The study involves extensive baseline and 1-month surveys assessing relationship satisfaction (CSI & PNRQ), relationship processes (e.g., negative conflict, emotional support, relationship gratitude and awareness, affection, sexual intimacy), and individual wellbeing (e.g., vitality, autonomy, competency, relatedness, depressive and anxiety symptoms). The study will also track daily app use and will involve much shorter (5-10min) weekly assessments of those same constructs across 4 weeks.
Results: The talk will present lessons learned during the piloting process along with multilevel models examining treatment outcomes and potential treatment mechanisms.