The development of a culturally-appropriate marriage enrichment programme for black african married couples: overview of programmes

Abstract

Development of knowledge on how to support marriages cross-culturally is necessary to inform appropriate solutions, especially for South Africa, where practical marital challenges amongst Black African married couples who are considered to be high risk are noted. The focus of this narrative literature-informed overview is to provide an appraisal of existing and most effective national and international marriage enrichment (ME) programmes, couples theories and social work models as the basis for the possible development of a culturally-appropriate ME programme for Black African married couples. Findings reveal, among other things: 1) there are no culturally-appropriate and empirically evaluated ME programmes beneficial to Black African married couples in SA; 2) appropriate theory is necessary and available for integration; 3) theories recognise marriage as a system, and therefore acknowledgement of various societal structures is fundamental; 4) existing empirically tested and effective programmes supporting couples theories and social work models are suitable to be adapted to the specific context