Primary Prevention in University Residence Halls: Paraprofessional-Led Relationship Enhancement Groups for College Roommates

The author examined the effect of Relationship Enhancement training as a preventive intervention with college roommates. Trained paraprofessional counselors (resident assistants) led 20 Relationship Skills Workshops for students in their living units. The workshops (four 2-hour sessions each) were based on the Relationship Enhancement method and involved training students in expressive (subjective self-disclosure) and empathic (demonstrating understanding) skills. Students were randomly assigned to workshops either early (experimental group) or late (delayed treatment control group) in the semester. Assessments of students' expressive and empathic skills when discussing personal concerns and conflicts with their roommates were made on all participants at the beginning, middle, and end of the semester. Results show significantly higher level skills for the trained experimental group in comparison to the as-yet untrained delayed-treatment control group at the middle of the semester, and that significant improvement occurred in both groups following their respective participation in training, suggesting training was effective.