Credible and Actionable Evidence Across Extension Program Areas: A Case Example

What is credible and actionable evidence can vary by program discipline in the Cooperative Extension Service. Through a series of interviews with program leadership from Agriculture, Natural Resources, Youth Development, Family Development, and Community Vitality, a case study of one state’s Extension system is described. While programs certainly vary in epistemological, ontological, and methodological underpinnings, each collects and delivers credible and actionable evidence in ways unique to their stakeholder audience. Diverse Extension programs do share a common mission and a common delivery mechanism (i.e., each works to promote knowledge gain, skill development, and behavior change in people). Therefore, the future of common credible and actionable evidence in Extension may rest on investing in systems that promote a shared science of delivery, engagement, and continuous improvement

Nutrition for the Underserved: The Implications: African American Focus Group Results

In an attempt to enhance program participation in Nutrition Education Programs provided by University of Minnesota Extension, focus groups were conducted with African American participants in Minnesota. This summary is from a larger focus group study, “Health & Nutrition Final Evaluation Report,” Arthur Brown and Mary Marczak, 2007.This archival publication may not reflect current scientific knowledge or recommendations. Current information available from the University of Minnesota Extension: https://www.extension.umn.edu

Understanding the Long-Term Benefits of a Latino Financial Literacy Education Program

The long-term impact of a Latino financial literacy program was evaluated with a sample of relatively recent immigrant populations in southern Minnesota. Telephone and face-to-face interviews were conducted with participants 6 months post program completion. Results indicate that improvements in knowledge and skills were retained and that these learning were applied to make improvements in participants\u27 financial situations. Participants acknowledged that more important than gaining knowledge was learning how to apply what they have learned. Implications for Extension are offered in terms of those factors that promoted the effectiveness of the financial literacy education

CYFC Monthly, September 2015

This archival publication may not reflect current scientific knowledge or recommendations. Current information available from the University of Minnesota Extension: https://www.extension.umn.edu

Nutrition for the Underserved: The Implications: Focus Group Results: Low-Income Working Caucasian

The University of Minnesota Extension Nutrition Education Program conducted focus groups with limited resource individuals throughout Minnesota to assess the quality and effectiveness of the Nutrition Education Programs. This summary is from a larger focus group study, “Health & Nutrition Final Evaluation Report,” Arthur Brown and Mary Marczak, 2007.This archival publication may not reflect current scientific knowledge or recommendations. Current information available from the University of Minnesota Extension: https://www.extension.umn.edu

Theoretical and Empirical Foundations of Divorce Education: Connecting Program Theory and Curricular Content

Many parent and family education programs lack a clearly articulated program theory that is solidly founded in the social science literature and used to guide rigorous evaluation. This article describes the program theory for Parents Forever, a divorce education program developed by the Minnesota Extension to serve divorcing parents. The Parents Forever program theory is theoretically based and empirically-informed. The program theory is based on three significant frameworks, which serve as the theoretical foundation for the program: human ecosystems, life course development, and family resilience. These theories are explored and discussed. Three primary change mechanisms relevant for divorcing families serve as the empirical foundation of the program. Parent-child and coparent relationships are commonly addressed in divorce education programs; however, the inclusion of parental self-care as the third mechanism to promote family resilience is a unique contribution of Parents Forever. Relevant concepts derived from the empirical literature related to these three mediators are presented. Connections between the curricular content and program theory (i.e., theoretical framework and three change mechanisms) are made explicit, and program theory is used to demonstrate the unique contribution that Parents Forever makes to the field of divorce education

A descriptive approach to examining marital success in contemporary United States

From the inception of Family Science as a discipline, researchers have shown great interest in understanding the workings of marital relationships. This effort intensified with relatively recent statistics on high rates of divorce and marital failure. In the 50th anniversary issue of the Journal of Marriage and the Family, several authors discussed the dominating presence of topics related to marital quality throughout the history of family research (Adams, 1988; Nye, 1988). Although the most examined human social relationships in our field, prominent researchers still suggest that the workings of a marriage are unknown to us (Gottman, 1994; Nye, 1988). One limitation of past research on marital quality has been the dominating presence of prediction-based research. Although conventional methods have furthered our understanding, scholars have suggested that divergent, interpretive data may produce "new insights" which may enhance or challenge conventional thinking (Elder, 1981; Jayaratne, 1983; Walker & Thompson, 1984). Various research strategies, placed under the broad label of qualitative methods have attempted to empower respondents by allowing them to describe a phenomenon of interest. The present study modeled the qualitative research method advanced by Paul Colaizzi (1978). The primary research goal of his descriptive approach is to allow the respondents to answer the question, what does it mean to have a successful marriage in our own historical time? More specifically, the research questions addressed were: How will the respondents describe successful marriages? How well do the emergent themes correspond with the themes delineated from the review of current measures of marital quality? To what extent do group differences or similarities exist between researchers and lay respondents? Ninety-eight respondents provided detailed descriptions of events that exemplified successful marriages. Descriptive analysis generated the following 16 global themes of marital success: relationship climate, daily nurturing, supportiveness, overcoming hardships, differences disagreements, communication, knowledge of spouse, growth and learning, relationship vs. Individual, commonalities, individual characteristics, equal partnership, teamwork, longevity and resiliency, spirituality, and outside influence. It was found that among others, general emergent themes such as spirituality, supportiveness, individual and mutual growth, and knowledge about the spouse, were not represented in many of the widely utilized measures of marital quality

Mapping Extension\u27s Networks: Using Social Network Analysis to Explore Extension\u27s Outreach

The University of Minnesota Extension conducted a social network analysis (SNA) to examine its outreach to organizations external to the University of Minnesota. The study found that its outreach network was both broad in its reach and strong in its connections. The study found that SNA offers a unique method for describing and measuring Extension outreach and that SNA can be effectively used to examine internal patterns around outreach while informing strategies toward improved alignment and greater leveraging of institutional knowledge. The findings indicate that SNA has great potential for improving reporting, developing internal collaboration, and conducting system-wide impact evaluations

After the Flood: Rushford's New Chapter

Illustrated summary of the research conducted after the 2007 Rushford, MN flood. Hear words of wisdom and "what worked" from those who know, disaster survivors.This archival publication may not reflect current scientific knowledge or recommendations. Current information available from the University of Minnesota Extension: https://www.extension.umn.edu

Immigrant family skills-building to prevent tobacco use in Latino youth: study protocol for a community-based participatory randomized controlled trial

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Despite declines over recent years, youth tobacco and other substance use rates remain high. Latino youth are at equal or increased risk for lifetime tobacco, alcohol, marijuana, and other illicit drug use compared with their white peers. Family plays an important and influential role in the lives of youth, and longitudinal research suggests that improving parenting skills may reduce youth substance use. However, few interventions are oriented towards immigrant Latino families, and none have been developed and evaluated using a community-based participatory research (CBPR) process that may increase the effectiveness and sustainability of such projects. Therefore, using CBPR principles, we developed a randomized clinical trial to assess the efficacy of a family-skills training intervention to prevent tobacco and other substance use intentions in Latino youth.</p> <p>Methods/Design</p> <p>In collaboration with seven Latino community-serving agencies, we will recruit and randomize 336 immigrant families, into intervention or delayed treatment conditions. The primary outcome is youth intention to smoke 6 months post intervention. The intervention consists of eight parent and four youth sessions targeting parenting skills and parent–youth relational factors associated with lower smoking and other substance use in youth.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>We present the study protocol for a family intervention using a CBPR randomized clinical trial to prevent smoking among Latino youth. The results of this trial will contribute to the limited information on effective and sustainable primary prevention programs for tobacco and other substance use directed at the growing US Latino communities.</p> <p>Trial registration</p> <p>ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT01442753</p