Economic Mobility Pilot

Summary

Research on economic mobility barriers consistently demonstrates that lack of access to jobs that pay living wages and to asset building opportunities coupled with cliff effects across public assistance programs (families losing multiple benefits at the same time when their incomes increase) traps families in a cycle of poverty and food insecurity, and as a result, negatively impacts their financial well-being and physical and mental health.

The investigators will explore the extent to which an Economic Mobility Pilot improves the financial well-being, physical and mental health, and reduces the social risks of study participants. Study participants will be eligible consented Boston Medical Center (BMC) employees.

The intervention developed for this study consists of six months of coaching session offered by the Career Navigator. Participant will receive support on career and financial through services, such as career pathway navigation, employee benefit maximization, financial literacy, wealth building, resources, and referrals.

A step wedge design will be implemented with participants randomized in two groups, Group 1, and Group 2 - intervention on different timeframe, analysis of the difference and similarities between groups pre- and post-survey. The qualitative component will include focus group of participants to provide information on the employee's perception of the intervention received, barriers to adherence and facilitators, and semi- structured interviews of the employer leadership to help assess the barriers and facilitators of the pilot.

A primary aim of this research is to monitor changes in economic mobility and financial well-being. Additional aims are to investigate changes in household hardships and employee, employee depressive symptoms, and their child's health. The investigators will examine whether the participants in the intervention group compared to those before receiving the intervention, are more likely to:

* Increase employee retention and self-reported financial well-being.
* Improve self-reported food security.
* Improve housing stability, energy security, childcare access, and/or health care access.
* Improve employee self-reported physical health status, and/or reduce self-reported anxiety and depressive symptoms.
* Improve employee-reported physical health status of the employee's child.
* Cost of delivery of the intervention
* Increased family income as result of this intervention

Conditions

• Financial Hardship
• Food Insecurity
• Health Status

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Career Navigator Coaching

The Career Navigator will support participants with a tailored approach to reach career and financial goals through one or more of the following services, in addition to referrals to other external services (community-based organizations) as needed for 6 months: 1. Career pathway navigation 2. Employee benefit maximization 3. Financial literacy and wealth building 4. Services funds for resources that mitigate specific barriers or needs.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Wagner Foundation

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• Someone Elses Child

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• Boston University

  collaborator OTHER

• Boston Medical Center

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Megan Sandel, MD MPH · Boston Medical Center and Boston University Chobanian

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Max Age

65 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2024-03-31

Primary Completion

2025-09-30

Completion

2025-09-30

Countries

• United States

Study Locations