Glossary_HM

Appendix F
HEALTHY MARRIAGE GRANTEE PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT
GLOSSARY
This glossary is for the use with the Healthy Marriage grants performance indicators only and
does not necessarily reflect the official definitions used by the Office of Family Assistance.
Abuse prevention skills: Skills to prevent and eliminate domestic violence in relationships
including how to control aggressive behavior within the context of marriage and reducing and
eliminating aggressive behavior.
Ads: Print or on-line advertisements.
Advertising: Refers to the types of media purchased, conducted, or donated for Healthy
Marriage Allowable Activity 1 and includes: television spots, billboards, radio spots, newspaper
ads, internet ads, phone campaigns, mailing campaigns, or outreach conducted at community
events.
Allowable activities: The tasks conducted by the grantees. The eight (8) allowable activities for
the healthy marriage grant program are based on the legislation and grant announcement. These
include:
• Public advertising campaigns on the value of marriage and skills to increase marital
stability and health
• Education in high schools on the value of marriage, relationship skills, and budgeting
• Marriage education, marriage skills, and relationship skills programs that may include
parenting skills, financial management, conflict resolution, and job and career
advancement
• Pre-marital education and marriage skills training for engaged couples and for couples or
individuals interested in marriage
• Marriage enhancement or marriage skills training programs for married couples
• Divorce reduction programs that teach relationship skills
• Marriage mentoring programs which use married couples as role models and mentors in
at-risk communities.
• Programs that reduce the disincentives to marriage in means-tested aid programs
Attitude: A mental position, disposition, or emotion towards something.
Attitude towards marriage: A mental position, disposition or emotion towards the institution of
marriage.
Budgeting/Financial skills: Proficiencies or aptitudes in management of household income and
expenses.
Child/Children: A person under the age of 18.

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Child well-being: A multidimensional concept encompassing positive outcomes for children in
the domains of family and social environment, economic circumstances, accessibility and usage
of health care, physical environment and safety, behavior, education and health.
Co-parent: The other parent involved in the conception and/or raising of a child.
Commitment to marriage stability: The state of an individual being obligated or emotionally
impelled to strive to make their marriage one that demonstrates qualities of spousal commitment,
long-term endurance and low propensity to divorce.
Communication Skills: This relationship skill is the interaction and exchanging of information
in verbal or non-verbal ways between two individuals (a couple) resulting in respectful and
positive methods of problem solving.
Completed: Service recipients finishing the core program requirement as determined by grantee.
Report the number of individuals who completed the program during the current reporting period,
even if they began in the program in an earlier reporting period.
Conflict resolution skills: A relationship skill used to work through a particular disagreement
and come to a mutual understanding or agreement between two people. This skill is taught as
part of the marriage education program.
Contacts: The number of times any targeted individual is exposed to advertising material.
Couple: As referenced in the allowable activity, couple can mean “married” or “unmarried”
couple.
Married couple: One man and one woman engaged in a legal union as husband and
wife. The word ‘spouse’ refers only to a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or
wife.
Denominator: The number of the individuals who complete a survey measuring outcomes upon
program completion
Economic stability: The long-term financial self-sufficiency of an individual or family that
includes a combination of employment, income, assets, and savings.
Educational attainment: The highest grade completed within the most advanced level attended
in the educational system.
Enrolled: Service recipients who complete grantee’s intake process. Report the number of
individuals who were enrolled in the program during the current reporting period.
Ethnicity: The heritage, nationality group, lineage, or country of birth of the person or the
person’s parents or ancestors before their arrival in the United States. People who identify their
origin as Spanish, Hispanic, or Latino may be of any race.
Employment status: Refers to the type of employment one has. E.g. full-time employment, parttime employment.
Family well-being: A multidimensional concept encompassing positive outcomes for families in
the areas of health, income, childcare, education, and marriage.

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Father: A male biological, adoptive or foster parent of a child.
Healthy marriage: A union that encompasses commitment, satisfaction, communication, conflict
resolution, lack of domestic violence, fidelity, time together, intimacy and emotional support,
commitment to children, and duration/legal marital status.
Healthy Marriage skills: Proficiencies or aptitudes that encourage healthy marriage developed
through education or training. Under these performance measures, healthy marriage skills are
communication, conflict resolution, abuse prevention, and budgeting/financial skills.
o

Communication Skills: This relationship skill is the interaction and exchanging
of information in verbal or non-verbal ways between two individuals (a couple)
resulting in respectful and positive methods of problem solving.

o

Conflict resolution skills: A relationship skill used to work through a particular
disagreement and come to a mutual understanding or agreement between two
people.

o

Abuse prevention skills: Skills aimed at reducing domestic violence in
relationships including how to control aggressive behavior within the context of
marriage and reducing and eliminating aggressive behavior.

o

Budgeting/Financial skills: Proficiencies or aptitudes in management of
household income and expenses.

Intermediate outcome: The changes in individuals, agencies, systems, and communities that
occur as a result of the grant activities. Outcomes in the intermediate term include changes in
action, behavior, practice, policies, social action, and decision-making.
Marital Status: The legal status of each individual in relation to the marriage laws or customs.
Marriage education: Skill-based instruction to promote, enhance or maintain healthy marriages.
Marriage stability: A married relationship demonstrating qualities of partner commitment,
long-term endurance and low propensity to divorce.
Mentee individual: An individual that is part of a couple, receiving peer guidance and
relationship support from a mentor couple.
Mentor couple: A couple serving as a peer counselor, example, and guide to another couple with
regard to their relationship.
Outcomes: The changes in individuals, agencies, systems, and communities that occur as a
result of the grant activities.
Outcome indicator: A captured quantifiable measure of an outcome.
Output: The services, products, or participation delivered or created in the eight (8) allowable
activities.

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Output indicator: A captured quantifiable measure of an output.
Performance indicator: A quantifiable metric of a program output or outcome reflecting
program accomplishments towards organizational goals. Used as a management tool to monitor
and improve program success.
Performance measurement: The ongoing monitoring and reporting of program
accomplishments, particularly progress toward pre-established goals.
Public advertising campaigns: An effort conducted through media or community outreach to
disseminate information to the public about the concepts and benefits of Healthy Marriage and
Responsible Fatherhood. Does not refer to advertising that is done by grantees to advertise their
specific program.
Race: A sociopolitical construct that takes into account social and cultural characteristics.
Relationship skills: Proficiencies or aptitudes that encourage healthy relationships developed
through education or training. Under these performance measures, healthy marriage skills are
communication, conflict resolution, abuse prevention, and financial skills.
Reporting period: The six-month period that matches the period of grantees’ semi-annual
reports.
Sex: Gender of participants
Short-term outcome: The changes in individuals, agencies, systems, and communities that occur
as a result of the grant activities. Outcomes in the short-term include changes in learning,
awareness, knowledge, attitude, skills, opinions, aspirations, and motivations.
Showed Improvement: Program has determined that individual has increased skills, attitudes or
other measures such as earnings during the course of participating in the program. Improvement
often is measured by a change in a test score between pre-test and post-test, but programs may
choose to measure improvement in other ways. For example, improvements in skills could be
measured by teacher observation rather than self-report.
Spot: A period of time where an advertisement airs, usually on TV or radio. One advertisement
may air in several spots.
Subsidized Employment: An employer in either the public or private sector receives a subsidy
from Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) or other public funds to offset some or
all of the wages and costs of employing a recipient 1.
Unsubsidized employment: Full- or part- time employment in the public or private sector that is
not subsided by TANF or any other public program 2.

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