(information below from www.prepinc.com)

First and foremost, Christian PREP is a program reflecting a clear commitment to traditional Christianity and Christian truth. The model of integration employed here gives first place to the revelation of scripture and second place to sound research. If revelation and research are in conflict, revelation wins out. The fact is, however, that revelation and sound research are consistently and amazingly consistent in those areas where they speak to the same phenomena. This has been one of the most exciting aspects of bringing this project together.

Christian PREP (The Prevention and Relationship Enhancement Program) is the culmination of years of work by many colleagues on understanding what makes for great marriages and what causes marital failure and breakdown. The program is founded on a Christian model and teaching on marriage, with an integration of solid research on marriage and relationships. The model of integration we employ is described below after we present some history of the PREP program in general.

The Prevention and Relationship Enhancement Program (PREP®) is a research-based approach to teaching couples how to communicate effectively, work as a team to solve problems, manage conflicts without damaging closeness, and preserve and enhance love, commitment, and friendship. The PREP Approach is based on 25 years of research in the field of marital health and success, with much of the specific research conducted at the University of Denver over the past 20 years. Drs. Markman, Stanley, Blumberg, and a host of colleagues and research assistants, have been studying what happy couples do right and what unhappy couples do wrong. One focus of this work has been on how to take this information and teach couples skills and attitudes associated with marital success.

PREP was designed to teach couples communication and problem solving skills found to be linked to effective marital functioning. It employs techniques from behavioral marital therapy (e.g., Jacobson & Margolin, 1979) and ideas similar to some other communication-training marital programs (e.g., Guerney, 1977).