Suchergebnisse

This article describes the health and wellness journey of Cooperative Extension from a task force to action teams. It provides background on (a) Extension health and wellness programming, (b) establishment of the Extension Committee on Organization and Policy (ECOP) Health and Wellness Task Force, (c) acceptance of the Task Force Report, and (d) appointment of the ECOP Action Teams. The article explains the opportunity to align an Extension system around a health framework, as well as actions and vision for the new Culture of Health partnership with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The article draws on articles published in the Journal of Extension, the 2014 ECOP Task Force Report, and documents about the Cooperative Extension–Robert Wood Johnson Foundation partnership. Authors supply first-hand observations and comments based on their roles in developing the Extension focus on health and wellness from concept to action. The article challenges Extension personnel and partners to advance programming to improve health and wellness of individual youth and adults; families; organizations, including Extension; and communities. Theoretical frameworks to use in programming; ideas for partnership development; and implications for research, education, and policy are included

This article summarizes a literature review; teen-identified health concerns and issues; and teen bold ideas for actions. Findings from the National 4-H Council and Molina Healthcare Teens Take on Health initiative are provided and implications for 4-H programming tied to the new Cooperative Extension National Framework for Health and Wellness are addressed. The article is intended as background for Extension educators, volunteers and administrators as they review the 4-H Healthy Living Mission Mandate, learn what mattered to teens and consider how to incorporate the findings into state and local 4-H youth development programming.

The purpose of this article is to help human service practitioners recognize and understand the stressor events and crises faced by rural low-income families as a basis for development of appropriate social support strategies. Identifying protective and recovery factors utilized by these families fills a gap in research on stress, crises, and resilience. The article is based on a study involving in-depth interviews of 34 rural mothers. Analysis revealed that these families used a variety of protective and recovery factors to manage stress and prevent crisis or cope with crises—indicators of their resiliency capacities. Implications, as corroborated by previous research for human service practitioners, are discussed.

This 3-year study followed 16 rural mothers who left Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. A family economic functioning framework was used to identify pathways and barriers to financial self-sufficiency. At a designated point, most mothers had incomes below 130% of poverty level, inadequate to support families financially. This was found to be a result of barriers such as low levels of education, limited employment choices, and transportation problems. Those with higher incomes had access to education or training programs and reliable transportation. For many of the mothers, extended family support was critical for getting off TANF. This framework provides social workers with a tool to determine the best points of intervention to reduce barriers and enhance pathways to success.

To address the policy debate surrounding the use of funds from TemporaryAssistance to Needy Families for marriage-promotion activities, this article profiles thenature of low-income rural mothers' relationships with their partners and thenonresidential fathers of their children. It presents the results of interviews with 35lowincome mothers from two rural Maryland counties. Although the analyses revealedthat the presence of a male partner was not related to a mother's economic oremotional well-being, other sources of social support buffered mothers against theireconomic challenges. The authors conclude that social workers should integrateinformal family support into their service delivery plans and that policy makers need toconsider alternatives to fostering economic self-sufficiency among rural low-incomepopulations.

AbstractAbstractThe public's perception of persons who rely on public assistance is generally negative. The surprising element is that mothers who are themselves reliant on welfare also hold these negative attitudes. This paper explored the attitudes toward and experiences with welfare of rural low income mothers using data from the Rural Families Speak longitudinal, multi‐state project. Consistent with prior research, the majority of rural mothers spoke disparagingly of those relying on "welfare." They saw themselves in a different light because they were in need and they used "public assistance" to help their families survive. The rural mothers also spoke of incidents in which they and their family members had experienced discrimination due to their use of welfare benefits.