Building Wealth and Health Network: A Microfinance/TANF Demonstration Project
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ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02577705 |
Recruitment Status :
Completed
First Posted : October 16, 2015
Last Update Posted : February 1, 2017
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The goals of the The Building Wealth and Health Network (The Network) are to develop and rigorously test an asset building model that will build financial, social and human capital through asset building, financial education and trauma-informed peer support. Program components include: 1) Matched savings accounts; 2) Financial literacy classes; and 3) Peer support groups using the Sanctuary ® trauma-informed approach to social services. This program is offered in partnership with the Department of Public Welfare of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The program elements will fulfill work requirements for the program called temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF).
The hypothesis is that the program's combination of services will result in improved economic security through boosting income, increasing assets, and building a supportive social network, that then translates to better health outcomes.
Condition or disease | Intervention/treatment | Phase |
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Hunger Child Development Social Isolation | Behavioral: Self Empowerment Groups Behavioral: Financial Empowerment Behavioral: Matched Savings | Not Applicable |

Study Type : | Interventional (Clinical Trial) |
Actual Enrollment : | 145 participants |
Allocation: | Randomized |
Intervention Model: | Parallel Assignment |
Masking: | Single (Participant) |
Primary Purpose: | Treatment |
Official Title: | Building Wealth and Health Network: A Microfinance/TANF Demonstration Project |
Actual Study Start Date : | June 16, 2014 |
Actual Primary Completion Date : | December 31, 2015 |
Actual Study Completion Date : | December 31, 2015 |
Arm | Intervention/treatment |
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Experimental: Self Empowerment Groups
Intervention activities included helping participants to open savings accounts at a local federal credit union with 1:1 matches of up to twenty dollars per month for 12 months. Participants also received financial empowerment and Peer Support curriculum, weekly for about 3 hours per week for 28 weeks.
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Behavioral: Self Empowerment Groups
The Self Empowerment Groups (SEG) curriculum draws key components from the S.E.L.F. tool within Sanctuary, focusing the four domains: creating personal, emotional, moral and physical safety (S), processing and managing emotions (E), recognizing loss and letting go (L), and developing goals for a sense of future (F). S.E.L.F. establishes a common language that all people who have experienced adversity can use to organize their lives and work towards building stable foundations to support their goals and invest in their potential. Behavioral: Financial Empowerment The Financial Empowerment curriculum developed for this study consisted of interactive exercises, worksheets, and journal assignments that fostered understanding and practice of banking, building credit and debt management, making the most of one's money, and setting financial goals for oneself and one's family. Content focused on identifying and harnessing the internal and external resources that participants can leverage to begin taking steps towards financial self-sufficiency. Behavioral: Matched Savings Participants were assisted with opening a savings accounts at a local non-profit federal credit union (with 1:1 matches of up to twenty dollars per month) over the course of 12 months. |
Experimental: Financial Empowerment
Intervention activities included helping participants to open savings accounts at a local federal credit union with 1:1 matches of up to twenty dollars per month for 12 months. Participants also received financial empowerment weekly for about 3 hours per week for 28 weeks.
|
Behavioral: Financial Empowerment
The Financial Empowerment curriculum developed for this study consisted of interactive exercises, worksheets, and journal assignments that fostered understanding and practice of banking, building credit and debt management, making the most of one's money, and setting financial goals for oneself and one's family. Content focused on identifying and harnessing the internal and external resources that participants can leverage to begin taking steps towards financial self-sufficiency. Behavioral: Matched Savings Participants were assisted with opening a savings accounts at a local non-profit federal credit union (with 1:1 matches of up to twenty dollars per month) over the course of 12 months. |
No Intervention: Control Group
The Control group did not receive assistance in opening a matched savings account, and were required by the County Assistance Office to participate in other Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) mandated work participation activities according to standard procedure.
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- Change in family economic hardship [ Time Frame: Quarterly change for up to 15 months ]
Family economic hardship is a singular outcome captured in three measures of hardship:
1) The U.S Household Food Security Survey Module (HFSSM) which measures food insecurity, 2) an energy security survey, which measures "energy insecurity," and 3) a housing security survey, which measures "housing instability." These three measures combine into a singular measure of hardship that consists of
"No hardship" [no positive response to three hardships above] "Moderate hardship" [at least one of the three hardships] and "Severe hardship" [consisting of 2 or 3 hardships]
- Change in Career readiness [ Time Frame: Quarterly change for up to 15 months ]Career readiness is measured using the employment hope scale.
- Change in Mental Health [ Time Frame: Quarterly change for up to 15 months ]To assess depressive symptoms among adult participants, we used the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D).
- Change in Child development [ Time Frame: Quarterly change for up to 15 months ]Children's developmental status was measured by the Parents' Evaluations of Developmental Status Survey. Participants were asked ten questions about their child's developmental issues: global/cognitive, expressive language and articulation, fine-motor, gross motor, behavior, social-emotional, self-help, school, and any other concerns.

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Ages Eligible for Study: | 18 Years and older (Adult, Older Adult) |
Sexes Eligible for Study: | All |
Accepts Healthy Volunteers: | Yes |
Inclusion Criteria:
- Recipients of TANF cash benefits for four years or less, and
- Subject to mandatory TANF 20-hour work requirement, and
- Parents of at least one child below the age of six
Exclusion Criteria:
- Adults who are unable to provide consent

To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the contact information provided by the sponsor.
Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier (NCT number): NCT02577705
United States, Pennsylvania | |
Drexel University School of Public Health | |
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, 19104 |
Principal Investigator: | Mariana Chilton, PhD, MPH | Drexel University |
Publications automatically indexed to this study by ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier (NCT Number):
Responsible Party: | Mariana Chilton, PhD, MPH, Principal Investigator, Drexel University |
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: | NCT02577705 |
Other Study ID Numbers: |
1041002551 |
First Posted: | October 16, 2015 Key Record Dates |
Last Update Posted: | February 1, 2017 |
Last Verified: | October 2015 |
food insecurity adverse childhood experiences violence exposure trauma poverty |
TANF assets depression randomized control trial |