The Impact of Family Financial Support on Parental Stress

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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The investigators have partnered with financial coaching organizations to establish what the investigators have termed a Medical-Financial Partnership (MFP) that offers financial coaching to improve financial and mental health. The investigators will evaluate the MFP's impact on family economic strain and parental stress.

Detailed Description
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Financial coaching is a new tool in the field of community development, but it has already demonstrated significant financial impact in a number of studies, including one randomized trial conducted by the Urban Institute. Financial coaching improves participant financial literacy, budgeting, saving for financial emergencies, and debt level. The investigators' project will help clinicians and the field of community economic development understand health and well-being through a new economic lens and assess the health-related impacts of the emerging field of financial coaching. The investigators have partnered with financial coaching organizations to establish what they have termed a Medical-Financial Partnership (MFP) that offers financial coaching to improve financial and mental health. The investigators will evaluate the MFP's impact on parental strain and stress. Community-based participants will be recruited from South Los Angeles and randomized to receive either monthly financial coaching plus access to referral for social services (intervention) or access to referral for social services alone (control). Inclusion criteria include having dependents under age 18, having some form of income, and having a tax identification number (social security number or Individual Tax Identification Number). Participants will be surveyed quarterly regarding their economic strain using the Family Economic Strain Scale and their individual stress using the Parenting Stress Index.

Official Title
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The Impact of Family Financial Support on Parental Stress

Conditions
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Stress

Intervention / Treatment
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* Behavioral: Financial Coaching
* Behavioral: Referral to Social Services


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: Participants will include caregivers and parents with one or more dependents, some form of income, and a tax identification number. Exclusion Criteria: Inability to partake in the financial coaching or primary language other than English or Spanish.
Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Design Details

Primary Purpose: Health Services Research
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Experimental: Financial Coaching & Social Service Referral<br>Enrollment in one-to-one financial coaching intervention to support savings, income, and credit while reducing debt using available tools in the community development field. | Behavioral: Financial Coaching<br>* Enrollment in one-to-one financial coaching intervention to support savings, income, and credit while reducing debt using available tools in the community development field.<br>Behavioral: Referral to Social Services<br> <br> |
| Active Comparator: Social Services Referral<br>Enrollment provides for access to referrals to social services. | Behavioral: Referral to Social Services<br> <br> |

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Family Economic Strain | Parents will be asked to assess the degree to which their economic circumstances impact their family functioning using the Family Economic Strain Scale | Up to one year (if possible) | 
| Parenting Stress | Parents will be asked to quantify their parenting stress using the Parenting Stress Index | Up to one year (if possible) | 

 Terms related to the study
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Keywords Provided by Centre Hospitalier Valida
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Parenting Stress, Stress, Social Determinants, Socioeconomic status, Financial Coaching