A Premarital Assessment Program

In an attempt to stimulate further work in the area of premarital counseling, Schumm and Denton (1979) discussed the current trends, issues, and needs in this important but neglected area. In response to Schumm and Denton, Salts and Buckner (1983) developed a training program for marital and family therapists in the area of premarital counseling. A premarital assessment program for couples was also designed which meets both training needs of beginning marital and family therapists and the needs of couples at various stages of relationship development. The purpose of this paper is to describe the premarital assessment program. The approaches to premarital preparation used by various professionals and defined by Schumm and Denton (1979) include the generalized education preparation, instructional counseling, therapeutic counseling and couple enrichment. The premarital assessment approach is related to instructional counseling, which has a goal of preparing couples to realistically adjust their expectations of marriage by providing them with information and exposure to a variety of frequently occurring marital problems (Schumm & Denton, 1979, p. 24). The premarital assessment goes beyond providing information by seeking to make the couple aware of the strengths and weaknesses in their relationship. The program will help