Training Child Welfare Professionals to Support Healthy Couple Relationships: Examining the Link to Training Transfer

Integrating healthy relationship and marriage education (RME) into child welfare services is a relatively recent initiative. Guided by the theoretical work in child welfare training evaluation, the current study describes the development and testing of a new RME training for child welfare professionals. Based on data collected from 272 trainees, results from structural equation modeling indicate a linear association between learner attitudes and newly acquired knowledge and skills to perceptions of training usefulness, which, in turn, influenced implementation of RME skills with clients. Implications for the delivery and evaluation of programming, in general and specific to RME, are shared.