Recipient Organization
MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY
(N/A)
BOZEMAN,MT 59717
Performing Department
HEALTH & HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
Non Technical Summary
For most people, pursuing healthy work, family, and personal lives can be a challenge. Borrowing from the field of positive psychology, the technical team defines `healthiness' here as the extent to which people are able to flourish, or achieve happiness, well-being, healthy relationships, and satisfying work lives (Keyes and Haidt, 2003). To achieve such flourishing, many people seek guidance from family members, friends, and sometimes professionals. What distinguishes the sub-populations of interest to us here, however, is that they are forging new pathways toward economic, family and personal fulfillment. Female ranchers and farmers, professionals, and immigrants may find themselves in new economic roles, new household structures, and even new communities. Lacking family and friends that have experienced such roles, and being underserved in programming and services, these women must seek out alternative sources of information and guidance. The purpose of this
project is to identify the questions, issues, and needs of female ranchers and farmers, professionals, and immigrants; determine the media messages that they receive in the areas of work, family, and healthy lifestyles; and assess the extent to which these messages help or hurt in the struggle to achieve healthy work, family, and personal lives.
Animal Health Component
50%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
30%
Applied
50%
Developmental
20%
Goals / Objectives
1. Determine the major issues facing the three target populations (farm/ranch women, professional women, immigrant Latina women) with respect to work, family, and personal fulfillment. 2. Identify media and information sources used by the three target populations to resolve and/or confront these issues. 3. Examine and evaluate the messages and information that reach the three target populations through media and information outlets identified by focus groups. 4. Develop recommendations for adapting such messages and information to better address the needs of the three target populations.
Project Methods
This study is multi-method, with the first method being qualitative focus group interviews of women in the three target groups, and the second method being content analyses of different magazines. For the focus groups, the project will use purposive sampling and follow established guidelines for employing qualitative research methods. The purpose of the focus groups is to determine what media sources women are accessing for information on work, family, and personal lives, and to ascertain what women get from these sources. In other words, the technical team wants to understand what women make of the messages in the media that they access, how these media sources make them feel, as well as what they perceive as helpful and what suggestions they would have. Each participating station in the study will facilitate at least two focus groups for each of their target audiences. The pooled data will be comprised of at least six focus groups for each of the targeted womens
audiences: female farm and ranch owners, professional women, and immigrant women. Technical committee members have experience using this method and facilitating such groups. The focus groups interviews will be audio-taped and transcribed verbatim. Information from the focus groups will generate a list of media sources used by the women which will then be explored using content analyses. This information will also allow for rich descriptions of what women obtain from the media and how they feel these media help or hinder them in reaching a sense of fulfillment and balance in their work, family, and personal lives. The social scientists who will conduct the present investigation have already developed a template to code magazine data via a pilot project in the summer of 2004. While this template will likely be modified based on the media sources women identify through the focus groups and on the qualitative themes that emerge through the focus groups. The template systematically
addresses each program such as in the case of radio/television or article as in the case of a magazine. The results from the content analysis will include basic information on how the coverage of media may not reflect womens lives, but it will also include careful illumination of how the media may be contradictory and inappropriate for women with time, economic, and geographical limitations (such as professional women, Latina immigrant women, and rural farm and ranch owning women).