Att D

HEALTHY MARRIAGE GRANTEE PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT

GLOSSARY

This glossary is for the use with the Healthy Marriage demonstration grants performance indicators only and does not necessarily reflect the official definitions used by the Office of Family Assistance.

Abuse prevention skills: Skills aimed at reducing domestic violence in relationships including how to control aggressive behavior within the context of marriage and reducing and eliminating aggressive behavior.

Ads: Print or on-line advertisements.

Advertising: Refers to the types of media purchased, conducted, or donated for Healthy Marriage Allowable Activity 1 and includes: television spots, billboards, radio spots, newspaper ads, internet ads, phone campaigns, mailing campaigns, or outreach conducted at community events.

Allowable activities: The tasks conducted by the grantees. The eight (8) allowable activities for the healthy marriage grant program are based on the legislation and grant announcement. These include:

• Public advertising campaigns on the value of marriage and skills to increase marital stability and health

• Education in high schools on the value of marriage, relationship skills, and budgeting

• Marriage education, marriage skills, and relationship skills programs for non-married expectant parents

• Marriage enhancement or marriage skills training programs for married couples

• Divorce reduction programs that teach relationship skills

• Marriage mentoring programs which use married couples as role models and mentors in at-risk communities.

• Programs that reduce the disincentives to marriage in means-tested aid programs

Any: One or more. The purpose of this question is to get an unduplicated count of people showing an improvement in any of the skill areas.

Attitude: A mental position, disposition, or emotion towards something.

Attitude towards marriage: A mental position, disposition or emotion towards the institution of marriage.

Budgeting/Financial skills: Proficiencies or aptitudes in management of household income and expenses.

Child/Children: A person under the age of 18.

Child well-being: A multidimensional concept encompassing positive outcomes for children in the domains of family and social environment, economic circumstances, accessibility and usage of health care, physical environment and safety, behavior, education and health.

Co-parent: The other parent involved in the conception and/or raising of a child.

Commitment to marriage stability: The state of an individual being obligated or emotionally impelled to strive to make their marriage one that demonstrates qualities of spousal commitment, long-term endurance and low propensity to divorce.

Communication Skills: This relationship skill is the interaction and exchanging of information in verbal or non-verbal ways between two individuals (a couple) resulting in respectful and positive methods of problem solving.

Completing/Completed: Service recipients finishing a minimum of eight (8) hours of training or education in the program or if the program is more than 8 hours, participants that have finished at least 75% of the program may be counted as complete. Report the number of individuals who completed the program during the current reporting period, even if they began in the program in an earlier reporting period.

Conflict resolution skills: A relationship skill used to work through a particular disagreement and come to a mutual understanding or agreement between two people. This skill is taught as part of the marriage education program.

Contacts: The number of times any targeted individual is exposed to advertising material.

Couple: As referenced in the allowable activity, couple can mean “married” or “unmarried” couple.

Married couple: One man and one woman engaged in a legal union as husband and wife. The word ‘spouse’ refers only to a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or wife.

Economic stability: The long-term financial self-sufficiency of an individual or family that includes a combination of employment, income, assets, and savings.

Family well-being: A multidimensional concept encompassing positive outcomes for families in the areas of health, income, childcare, education, and marriage.

Father: A male biological, adoptive or foster parent of a child.

Healthy marriage: A union that encompasses commitment, satisfaction, communication, conflict resolution, lack of domestic violence, fidelity, time together, intimacy and emotional support, commitment to children, and duration/legal marital status.

Healthy Marriage skills: Proficiencies or aptitudes that encourage healthy marriage developed through education or training. Under these performance measures, healthy marriage skills are communication, conflict resolution, abuse prevention, and budgeting/financial skills.

• Communication Skills: This relationship skill is the interaction and exchanging of information in verbal or non-verbal ways between two individuals (a couple) resulting in respectful and positive methods of problem solving.

• Conflict resolution skills: A relationship skill used to work through a particular disagreement and come to a mutual understanding or agreement between two people.

• Abuse prevention skills: Skills aimed at reducing domestic violence in relationships including how to control aggressive behavior within the context of marriage and reducing and eliminating aggressive behavior.

• Budgeting/Financial skills: Proficiencies or aptitudes in management of household income and expenses.

Intermediate outcome: The changes in individuals, agencies, systems, and communities that occur as a result of the grant activities. Outcomes in the intermediate term include changes in action, behavior, practice, policies, social action, and decision-making.

Marriage education: Skill-based instruction to promote, enhance or maintain healthy marriages.

Marriage stability: A married relationship demonstrating qualities of partner commitment, long-term endurance and low propensity to divorce.

Mentee individual: An individual that is part of a couple, receiving peer guidance and relationship support from a mentor couple.

Mentor couple: A couple serving as a peer counselor, example, and guide to another couple with regard to their relationship.

Outcomes: The changes in individuals, agencies, systems, and communities that occur as a result of the grant activities.

Outcome indicator: A captured quantifiable measure of an outcome.

Output: The services, products, or participation delivered or created in the eight (8) allowable activities.

Output indicator: A captured quantifiable measure of an output.

Performance indicator: A quantifiable metric of a program output or outcome reflecting program accomplishments towards organizational goals. Used as a management tool to monitor and improve program success.

Performance measurement: The ongoing monitoring and reporting of program accomplishments, particularly progress toward pre-established goals.

Public advertising campaigns: An effort conducted through media or community outreach to disseminate information to the public about the concepts and benefits of Healthy Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood. Does not refer to advertising that is done by grantees to advertise their specific program.

Relationship skills: Proficiencies or aptitudes that encourage healthy relationships developed through education or training. Under these performance measures, healthy marriage skills are communication, conflict resolution, abuse prevention, and financial skills.

Reporting period: The six-month period that matches the period of grantees’ semi-annual reports.

Served: An individual having completed a minimum of eight hours of a curriculum.

Short-term outcome: The changes in individuals, agencies, systems, and communities that occur as a result of the grant activities. Outcomes in the short-term include changes in learning, awareness, knowledge, attitude, skills, opinions, aspirations, and motivations.

Showed Improvement: Program has determined that individual has increased skills, attitudes or other measures such as earnings during the course of participating in the program. Improvement often is measured by a change in a test score between pre-test and post-test, but programs may choose to measure improvement in other ways. For example, improvements in skills could be measured by teacher observation rather self-report.

Spot: A period of time where an advertisement airs, usually on TV or radio. One advertisement may air in several spots.

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