• Jarnecke, A. M., Ridings, L. E., Teves, J. B., Petty, K., Bhatia, V., & Libet, J. (2020). The path to couples therapy: A descriptive analysis on a veteran sample. Couple and Family Psychology: Research and Practice, 9(2), 73-89. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/cfp0000135
  • As the Department of Veterans Affairs continues to include families in the care of Veterans, it is important to understand the issues that lead Veterans and their partners to seek relationship help. With a sample of heterosexual couples including at least one Veteran member (N = 97 couples), this study examined the problems couples experienced before seeking therapy, how long couples took to seek treatment, and what attempts were made to improve the relationship before pursuing therapy. Participants completed questionnaires on relationship satisfaction, relationship perceptions, expectations for therapy, time to treatment initiation, and attempts to improve the relationship. Additionally, participants provided written descriptions of their relationship problems that led them to seek therapy. Participants identified a variety of relationship concerns that led them to seek therapy (e.g., lack of trust, problematic partner behaviors). Women generally made more attempts to improve the relationship (e.g., reading a relationship book, talking to a family member) prior to seeking therapeutic help.

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Research summaries convey terminology used by the scientists who authored the original research article; some terminology may not align with the federal government's mandated language for certain constructs.

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