The Happy, Healthy, Safe Relationships Continuum: Conceptualizing a Spectrum of Relationship Quality to Guide Community-Based Healthy Relationship Promotion Programming

Abstract

In recent years, the promotion of healthy relationships at the community level has been widely and rapidly increased. However, the lack of a comprehensive definition of healthy relationships has resulted in potential difficulties in comparing community-based research findings, thus likely hindering the advancement of science and practice in this area. Defining healthy relationships is complex due to diverse personal and cultural backgrounds and types of relationships among individuals in diverse communities. In this article, a definition of healthy relationships and a new research-driven framework, the Happy, Healthy, Safe Relationships (HHSR) Continuum are presented. This HHSR Continuum is designed to be adaptable to different types of relationships, perspectives, and needs of subpopulations within communities. Although additional research is needed to further refine the HHSR Continuum, this framework potentially holds significant implications for theory and community-based practice in the promotion of healthy relationships.