The Impact of Family Financial Support on Parental Mental Health

Not Applicable

Completed

• Conditions: Financial Coaching; Medical-Financial Partnership; Mental Disorders; Toxic Stress; Social Determinants
• Interventions: Behavioral: Financial Coaching; Behavioral: Access to Social Service Referrals

• Registration Number: NCT02723357
• Lead Sponsor: University of California, Los Angeles

Brief Summary

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 mental health using the Kessler-6 emotional distress scale.

Detailed Description

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 mental health using the Kessler-6 emotional distress scale as the outcome variable.

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 mental health using the Kessler-6 emotional distress scale.

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2016-03
• Study First Submitted: 2016-03-24
• Study First Submitted QC: 2016-03-24
• Study First Posted: 2016-03-30
• Status Verified: 2017-10
• Primary Completion: 2017-10
• Study Completion: 2017-10
• Last Update Submitted: 2017-10-24
• Last Update Posted: 2017-10-26

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 150

Inclusion Criteria

• Caregivers/Parents with one or more child dependents, income of any sort, and a tax identification number.

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Exclusion Criteria

• Inability to partake in financial coaching due to physical limitations or primary language other than Spanish or English.

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Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Financial Coaching & Access to Services	Access to Social Service Referrals	Participants in this arm will receive monthly financial coaching and access to basic social service referrals until either one year, closure of all financial needs, or loss to follow up.
Financial Coaching & Access to Services	Financial Coaching	Participants in this arm will receive monthly financial coaching and access to basic social service referrals until either one year, closure of all financial needs, or loss to follow up.
Access to Services	Access to Social Service Referrals	Participants in this arm will receive access to basic social service referrals until either one year, closure of all financial needs, or loss to follow up.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Mental Health	Up to one year (if possible)	Mental health as assessed by the Kessler-6 scale of emotional distress

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

LIFT-LA in Affiliation with UCLA; 🇺🇸 Los Angeles, California, United States