To inform research and practice with distressed couples, the current study was designed to examine patterns of change among distressed, help-seeking couples prior to receiving an intervention. Data from this study originate from 221 couples assigned to the waitlist control condition of a randomized controlled trial for couples seeking online help for their relationship. All couples self-selected into the online program and agreed to withhold seeking additional services for their relationship during the waitlist period. In contrast with prior findings, results from the current study indicated a general pattern of mean improvement in both self-reported relationship functioning (e.g., increased relationship satisfaction, partner emotional support) and self-reported individual functioning (i.e., decreased psychological distress, anger) over the six-month waitlist period. Nonetheless, the majority of couples continued to remain relationally distressed despite these improvements. Findings from the study indicate that distressed couples can, in fact, exhibit some degree of improvement absent of intervention. At the same time, overall levels of distress remained elevated, indicating that these improvements are not sufficient to result in high levels of functioning and suggesting that many distressed couples may benefit from empirically supported programs to realize greater gains. These results also highlight and underscore the importance of including control conditions in studies examining the efficacy of relationship interventions with distressed couples to ensure that any observed improvements in relationship functioning are attributable to the intervention rather than to naturally occurring changes.

中文翻译：

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在线关系干预候补夫妇之间的关系和个人功能轨迹


为了为陷入困境的夫妇的研究和实践提供信息，当前的研究旨在检查陷入困境、寻求帮助的夫妇在接受干预之前的变化模式。这项研究的数据来自 221 对夫妇，这些夫妇被分配到一项随机对照试验的候补名单对照条件中，该试验针对的是寻求在线婚姻关系帮助的夫妇。所有夫妇均自行选择加入在线计划，并同意在等待期间停止为他们的关系寻求额外服务。与之前的研究结果相反，当前研究的结果表明，自我报告的关系功能（例如，增加的关系满意度、伴侣情感支持）和自我报告的个人功能（即，心理困扰、愤怒减少）平均改善的一般模式）在六个月的候补期内。尽管如此，尽管有这些改善，大多数夫妻的关系仍然处于困扰之中。研究结果表明，事实上，在没有干预的情况下，陷入困境的夫妇可以表现出一定程度的改善。与此同时，总体痛苦水平仍然较高，表明这些改善不足以带来高水平的功能，并表明许多陷入困境的夫妇可能会从经验支持的计划中受益，以实现更大的收益。这些结果还强调并强调了在研究中纳入控制条件的重要性，这些研究检查了对痛苦夫妇的关系干预措施的有效性，以确保任何观察到的关系功能的改善都归因于干预措施，而不是自然发生的变化。