Source: RUTGERS, THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW JERSEY submitted to NRP
FAMILY ECONOMICS
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
COMPLETE
Funding Source
HATCH
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
0202568
Grant No.
(N/A)
Cumulative Award Amt.
(N/A)
Proposal No.
(N/A)
Multistate No.
NCR-52
Project Start Date
Oct 1, 2000
Project End Date
Sep 30, 2005
Grant Year
(N/A)
Program Code
[(N/A)]- (N/A)
Recipient Organization
RUTGERS, THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW JERSEY
3 RUTGERS PLZA
NEW BRUNSWICK,NJ 08901-8559
Performing Department
AGRICULTURAL, FOOD & RESOURCE ECONOMICS
Non Technical Summary
The purpose of this project is to develop educational programs and research studies that integrate connections between health and personal finances.
Animal Health Component
50%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
20%
Applied
50%
Developmental
30%
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
8016099301050%
8016099302050%
Knowledge Area
801 - Individual and Family Resource Management;

Subject Of Investigation
6099 - People and communities, general/other;

Field Of Science
3020 - Education; 3010 - Economics;
Goals / Objectives
1. Encourage and facilitate interdisciplinary, multistate research on issues affecting family economic well-being, specifically: a) Use technology to promote the availability and use of secondary data for family economics research. b) Organize a research conference or symposium on family economic issues using secondary data sources. c) Encourage continuing education on research methodology and data analysis techniques to further the field of family economics. 3.Assist in the dissemination of family economics research or other research, outreach, and education professionals to improve family economic well-being and the sustainability of family and community systems. a) Maintain and promote the NCR-52 list serve. b) Develop a set of research briefs. c) Investigate the possibility of an NCR-52 web site. 4.Participate in the development of Plan of Work (POW) activities at the state and federal level related to family economics research and Extension education including the identification of outcome indicators.
Project Methods
Research the relationships between health and wealth and prepare Extension fact sheets, journal articles, Web pages, and conference presentations on this topic. Attend the Fall 2005 NCR 52 meeting and an associated grant-funded (pending) conference on health and wealth connections.

Progress 10/01/00 to 09/30/05

Outputs
During the past year, the following activities were undertaken by Dr. O'Neill to develop a national research and Extension program, Small Steps to Health and Wealth (SSHW). SSHW integrates health and personal finance topics with behavior change strategies designed to motivate Americans to improve their health and personal finances. Researched and wrote 36 Rutgers Cooperative Research and Extension Small Steps to Health and Wealth (SSHW) fact sheets, which will also become an approximately 160-page workbook to be published by the Natural Resource, Agriculture, and Engineering Service (NRAES) in Spring 2006. Trained Extension faculty to implement the SSHW program in 5 states: AZ, KS, NJ, VA, and WI. Developed an online registration and impact evaluation system with the University of AZ. Developed SSHW program marketing materials and promotional strategies Presented SSHW workshops at three national professional conferences (American Council on Consumer Interests, American Association of Family & Consumer Sciences, Association For Financial Counseling and Planning Education).

Impacts
We expect that Extension agents nationwide will begin to implement the Small Steps to Health and Wealth program in 2006 and beyond as it becomes more widely known and all of the SSHW components are completed. We expect to see many large dollar impacts reported, such as dollars saved and pounds lost, when the impact evaluation results reported by participants are aggregated across state lines. We will also estimate the financial savings from improved health behaviors based upon published estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and other sources. Finally, we plan to study associations between participants' reported health and financial indicators. The SSHW Web site can be found at www.rce.rutgers.edu/healthfinance. A link to the beta test of the SSHW registration form can be found at http://cals-cf.calsnet.arizona.edu/fcs/tcaisurvey/healthandwealth/reg istration.cfm.

Publications

  • O'Neill, B. & Ensle, K. 2006.(In Press). Small Steps to Health and Wealth. Ithaca, NY: Natural Resource, Agriculture, and Engineering Service (NRAES).
  • O'Neill, B. Health and Wealth Connections: Implications for Financial Planners. Journal of Personal Finance (2005), 4(2), 27-39.
  • O'Neill, B. Small Steps to Health and Wealth. The Forum For Family and Consumer Issues, (December 2004), 9(3), 8 pages. [WWW document] URL: www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/fcs/pub/9_3/smallsteps.html.