How to Use Crowdfunding in Extension: A Relationship Education Example

Crowdfunding is a resource that allows individuals or groups to raise funds while simultaneously engaging relevant communities and, thus, is an important tool for Extension specialists. We provide recommended steps for successful crowdfunding, including tips for identifying a website, developing or refining a proposal, and crafting a marketing and campaign strategy. We use the successful crowdfunding of a relationship education program as an example

Undergraduate Public Scholarship: Blogs and Infographics Replacing Quizzes and Presentations

The focus of this presentation is on ways to adjust assignments for online and in-person courses to include public scholarship. They describe the challenges and successes experienced adapting assignments in an online and in-person section of an upper level Human Development and Family Studies undergraduate course. How to help students think about the ways that knowledge is communicated to target audiences and to assess needs in order to provide information most likely to be helpful. Specifically, they demonstrate student learning through blogging, infographics, and social media posting. Inclusion of public-facing assignments allows students to exhibit that they are familiar with course materials, able to teach the materials to others, and dialog on topics that matter to them

“It’s complicated:” the continuity and correlates of cycling in cohabiting and marital relationships

Given previous research on the risks associated with cycling in young adult dating relationships, the present study examines the frequency with which cyclical dating relationships (relationships that end and renew) persist into cohabitation and marriage, the characteristics of these relationships, and the constraints associated with cycling during these stages using a nationally representative sample of cohabiting (n = 323) and married (n = 752) couples. Using retrospective accounts, results suggest that over one-third of cohabiters and one-fifth of spouses have experienced a breakup and renewal in their current relationship. Additionally, partners who have experienced cycling are at greater risk for further cycling and experiencing greater constraints to permanently ending the relationship, greater uncertainty in their relationship’s future, and lower satisfaction

Expanding our reach: marriage and family therapists in the public school system

As states change their legislation to include Marriage and Family Therapists (MFTs) as approved mental health providers in schools, it is important to understand the experiences of MFTs in this context to improve training and increase our effectiveness. MFTs with experience working in public schools (N = 21) discuss the advantages and rewards of working in schools, challenges they have experienced, how they have dealt with those challenges, and training they recommend for MFTs seeking to work in schools. Qualitative results have implications for practitioners, training, and supervision. The possibility of a specialization in School-Based Family Therapy is discussed