The Impact of Family Financial Support on Parental Mental Health

Financial coaching is a new tool in the field of community development, but it has already
demonstrated significant financial impact in a number of studies, including one randomized
trial conducted by the Urban Institute. Financial coaching improves participant financial
literacy, budgeting, saving for financial emergencies, and debt level. The investigators'
project will help clinicians and the field of community economic development understand
health and well-being through a new economic lens and assess the health-related impacts of
the emerging field of financial coaching. The investigators have partnered with financial
coaching organizations to establish what they have termed a "Medical-Financial Partnership
(MFP)" that offers financial coaching to improve financial and mental health. The
investigators will evaluate the MFP's impact on mental health using the Kessler-6 emotional
distress scale as the outcome variable.

Community-based participants will be recruited from South Los Angeles and randomized to
receive either monthly financial coaching plus access to referral for social services
(intervention) or access to referral for social services alone (control). Inclusion criteria
include having dependents under age 18, having some form of income, and having a tax
identification number (social security number or Individual Tax Identification Number).
Participants will be surveyed quarterly regarding their mental health using the Kessler-6
emotional distress scale.

Inclusion Criteria:

- Caregivers/Parents with one or more child dependents, income of any sort, and a tax
identification number.

Exclusion Criteria:

- Inability to partake in financial coaching due to physical limitations or primary
language other than Spanish or English.