What’s Unique About PREPARE/ENRICH?
Peter J. Larson, Ph.D. - Seminar Director
Life Innovations, Inc.

While speaking with a senior executive of Chick-Fil-A one day, I asked him how they handle competition from other fast food chains who’ve integrated chicken sandwiches into their menus. Without hesitation he replied, “If you have success, others will try to duplicate what you do. In some ways, it just confirms you’ve found a valuable niche. But nobody will change the fact that you’re the first and the best at what you do.”

His words were a powerful reminder to me about what David Olson has established with the PREPARE/ENRICH Program. Over 25 years ago, Dr. Olson and his team of graduate student researchers began developing and refining the PREPARE/ENRICH Inventories. No other couple inventories have the history of development and improvements, or the research track that PREPARE/ENRICH has established.

Our staff and Seminar Directors are sometimes asked what is different about PREPARE/ENRICH. The fact is there are several important components that are unique aspects of the PREPARE/ENRICH Inventories and Program:

•  5 Couple Inventories: PREPARE, PREPARE-MC, PREPARE-CC, ENRICH, MATE
  
  PREPARE/ENRICH continues to lead the field in relevance to various relationships and life stages. At the Smart Marriages Conference in 2005, much was made of the need to pay attention to the marriages of the aging baby boomers. While others are just beginning to recognize this need, Dr. Olson developed MATE, for couples over 50, ten years ago.
   

•  Couple Typology
  
  By using a statistical technique known as cluster analysis, PREPARE/ENRICH research has revealed patterns in couple relationships referred to as the couple typology. This typological system which categorizes couples as Vitalized, Harmonious, Traditional, Conflicted, or Devitalized, has proven to be very useful in counseling as well as research.
   

•  Couple & Family Map
  
  Based on Dr. Olson’s Circumplex Model of Marital and Family Systems, the inventories plot flexibility and cohesion for the couple and their family of origin. The Circumplex model is the most popular family research model, now published in over 1500 studies around the world. Clergy and Counselors find it a helpful way to engage couples in discussions about family of origin issues and role relationship.
   

•  Building A Strong Marriage Workbook with 6 Couple Exercises
  
  From the beginning, Dr. Olson has paired his inventories with a feedback program designed to teach specific skills and equip couples. The manageable and teachable couple exercises are a powerful compliment to the world’s leading couple assessments.
   

•  Idealistic Distortion Scale
  
  The PREPARE/ENRICH Inventories are very sophisticated and refined. Idealistic Distortion measures the extent to which a person views their relationship through “rose colored glasses”. This correction factor is used to adjust individual scores to provide a more valid result. Combined with norms based on over 100,000 couples, the psychometric design of the inventories is unmatched.
   

•  Assertiveness, Avoidance, Self-Confidence, and Partner Dominance
  
  The scales used in the Personality Assessment section identify important relationship interaction patterns. Research shows that these patterns are highly related to relationship health and success.
   

•  Abuse Assessment
  
  When Version 2000 of PREPARE/ENRICH was released, the background section was expanded to include questions relating to abuse and substance use. These questions are designed to provide an opening for counselors to explore these areas of concern in more depth.
   

•  Scientific Rigor & Ongoing Studies
  
  With high levels of reliability, impressive predictive validity for marital outcomes, 15 published journal articles and countless doctoral dissertations, the science behind the PREPARE/ENRICH program is unmatched in the field of couple assessment. In the last year, research has been published demonstrating powerful outcomes for premarital couples going through the PREPARE Program, as well as a study on the impact of Spiritual Agreement among couples. Life Innovations is dedicated to ongoing research and refinement of the Inventories and Program.

At the 2004 Smart Marriages Conference, Dr. Olson received the Smart Marriages Impact Award “for his great body of work as a pioneer, researcher, theorist and visionary in improving the understanding of how to PREPARE for, ENRICH, and master marriage.” The list above provides many of the distinguishing characteristics of the PREPARE/ENRICH Program. These attributes help Life Innovations and Dr. Olson provide the leading couple assessment program in the world.

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