Investigating the Needs to Develop an Integrated Holistic Marriage Education Module (IHMEM)

Due to the escalating statistical figure of divorce rate amongst Muslim couples in Malaysia, there is a need to enhance the marriage education program to be more effective in overcoming the problems of marriage, as well as to provide the knowledge and skills to the spouse and to prevent the divorce cases. Therefore, this article is aimed to explore the views of experts and couples with marital conflict on the needs of marriage education in Malaysia. This article employed an interview method with ten participants; amongst them are five Consultation Officer from the Islamic Religious Office and five people who are facing marital conflict and seeking advice from the Islamic Religious Office. The data collected between March until June 2016 and were managed and analyzed using thematic analysis approach. The findings of the interviews revealed two main outcomes (i) the views of experts and conflict people about marriage education; (ii) the views of experts and conflict people on the content of marriage education course. The findings highlight that marriage education course is important to provide a platform for knowledge and relationship skills between husband and wife. Various topics need to be included in preparing the module of marriage education, such as financial management, conflict management skills, effective communication skills, listening and express feelings skills.