A marital intervention method similar to conjoint counseling and requiring professional involvement with only one spouse in a marital dyad was investigated. Prior to the treatment, one spouse from each of 44 couples was trained in open, genuine self-disclosure and empathic understanding skills. After this training, 19 spouses trained their partners in the same skills over a five-week treatment period. The remaining 25 spouses held weekly discussions with their partners on five important marital issues. A third group of eight couples served as a no-treatment control. Results indicated that: (1) spouses were able to train their partners in the communication skills; (2) due to the short treatment period, no change was found in the couples' marital satisfaction; (3) it is possible to train spouses as relationship change agents; and (4) intervention methods other than individual counseling are potentially helpful to couples in which one spouse is not willing to participate in marriage counseling. (Author)