Clinical Research Directory

Financial Counseling for Dementia Family Caregivers in Early and Middle Adulthood

The goal of this National Institutes of Health (NIH) Stage 1a study is to develop and pilot test a research- and community-informed financial counseling and advocacy (FCA) intervention for dementia family caregivers in early and middle adulthood. The main question it aims to answer is: Is a research- and community-informed financial counseling and advocacy intervention usable, feasible and acceptable for dementia family caregivers in early and middle adulthood? Participants will engage in a four-week single group financial counseling and advocacy intervention and complete pre- and post-intervention measures addressing financial well-being, caregiver strain, workplace productivity, and flourishing along with usability, acceptability, and feasibility measures.

Effects of a Financial Literacy and Gender-Transformative Couples Intervention on Parenting Practices in India

Many families in India experience intimate partner violence (IPV) and financial stress, both of which can harm the way parents interact with and discipline their children. When parents are under stress, they may be more likely to use harsh physical discipline or be less involved and warm with their children. Improving how couples communicate, manage money together, and relate to each other more fairly may help parents raise their children in healthier and more nurturing ways. This study examines whether a couples-based programme, "Let Us Grow Together: Economic Wellbeing for Families," improves parenting practices among married couples in India. The programme consists of six group sessions attended by husbands and wives together. Sessions cover financial skills such as budgeting, saving, and joint financial planning, alongside topics on respectful relationships, communication, and shared decision-making in the household. Sessions are delivered over approximately five months by trained male and female facilitators, with text message reminders sent between sessions to reinforce key messages. The study is nested within a larger randomised controlled trial called ECOVI (Disentangling and Preventing Economic Violence against Women), conducted across three Indian states: Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, and Rajasthan, involving 2,276 married couples. Villages or community groups are randomly assigned to either receive the programme or continue as usual. This random assignment means the study can reliably measure whether the programme, rather than some other factor, caused any changes in parenting. Parenting is assessed at the end of the study (endline) using questions from the s-EMBU-P Questionnaire, a widely used and validated tool. These questions ask mothers and fathers separately about three aspects of parenting: rejection/harsh parenting, emotional warmth/positive parenting and overprotection/control. The study also examines whether any improvements in parenting occur because the programme reduces violence between partners, improves parents' mental health, reduces family financial stress, or improves their relationship. All of these mediators are measured at baseline and endline. Both mothers and fathers are asked about their own parenting practices separately, making this one of the few studies to examine how such a programme affects fathers' and mothers' parenting practices in this context.

Transform + Family Academy Randomized Controlled Trial in the Philippines

This study evaluates the integration of two complementary poverty alleviation programs: Compassion International's (CI) child-focused Survival and Early Childhood Program with International Care Ministries' (ICM) household-level Transform + Family Academy intervention. CI's program provides holistic child development through health support, educational programming, social development, and spiritual formation via local church partners for children aged 3-5 years. ICM's Transform + Family Academy combines a 15-week household intervention targeting health education, livelihood training, and values formation with an 8-week early childhood education component delivered through home visits. The primary aim of this research is to assess whether integrating household-level interventions with child-focused programming enhances early numeracy and literacy outcomes among children aged 3-5 living in extreme poverty in Western and Southern Mindanao, Philippines. The study also examines the intervention's impact on children's nutritional status and household financial resilience, including savings behaviors and access to social safety nets. The investigators hypothesize that addressing household-level constraints including caregiver capacity, health, and economic challenges will enhance children's academic and nutritional outcomes alongside household financial resilience compared to child-focused programming alone.

Healthier Wealthier Families In East London: HWFinEL

The financial condition children live in when they are young can affect their health, not only in their childhood but also throughout their lives. The cost-of-living crisis means many families are 'going without' the basics. Many people do not claim all the benefits they are entitled to, or know how to solve money problems because they find it difficult to access advice. Parents with a new-born baby are especially likely to need financial support. Research shows that after getting money advice services linked up with routine health services, family income can improve. The investigators don't yet know if linking up money advice with routine health appointments improves parents' health and wellbeing as well as their household income. The investigators don't know whether making these services easy to access through linking them up has long term implications for children's health and wellbeing. Finally, at the moment the investigators don't know how best health and money advice services can be organised to help mothers or fathers who are in difficulty such as those who are homeless or have recently arrived in England. The goal of this trial is to improve low-income families' living conditions and ensure that all children have the best start in life. The investigators hypothesise a co-located approach will serve as a vital step toward a more integrated approach to health and social welfare, ultimately benefitting families in need. The investigators will be comparing one group of participants who will receive welfare benefits advice from a welfare benefits advisor (WBA) that is co-located with routine 6-8 week newborn health check appointments in a Children and Families Centre (CFC). The other group will receive standard care and be given information on where they can access welfare benefits advice.