Enhancing Marital Intimacy Through Psychoeducation: The PAIRS Program

Abstract

This study explores the enhancement and maintenance of intimacy, a critical element in the development of healthy relationships, through a psychoeducational method-the Practical Application of Intimate Relationship Skills (PAIRS) program. Using a pretest, posttest, andfollow-up design, married program participants (N = 137) volunteered to be evaluated pre-PAIRS, post-PAIRS, and 6 to 8 months after PAIRS. Participants tended to be more distressed and less intimate than the general population. The design included operational measures of intimacy (Waring Intimacy Questionnaire) and marital adjustment (Locke-Wallace Marital Adjustment Test) as well as open-ended questionnaires that revealed clients'perceptions of intimacy and what enhances and maintains intimacy; gender differences were also explored. The findings in this study suggest a multifaceted view of intimacy. For most participants (76%), significant gains in intimacy were sustained in the follow-up period. Gender differences in intimacy had been reduced at follow-up. Intimacy appears to be a skill that can be learned.