Families First Edmonton Research Project

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Families First EdmontonResearch Project
General Presentation
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Support to Low-Income Families

• In Edmonton, about 27,000 families (15 of all
  Edmonton families) are considered low income, and
  struggle to make ends meet.
• These families have limited resources, often
  barely enough to pay for food and shelter.
• As well, they often have little opportunity to
  learn skills, access preventive health care, or
  enjoy family activities.
• Urban Poverty Project, CCSD, 2001

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Support to Low-Income Families

• Although there are agencies and supports
  available to help, these families also have
  difficulty accessing supports.
• Transportation, awareness, language, and culture
  are among the barriers to accessing supports.
• Families with low-incomes are also more likely to
  have other social and health needs.

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Support to Low-Income Families

• Interpersonal/family relationships, life skills,
  parentingor just the ability to play.
  Difficulty with these issues can put stress on
  the whole family.
• Supporting families can help build on their
  strengths, set goals, and make dreams come true.
  
• But, how do we know what works best?

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Families First Edmonton

• Families First Edmonton is a research project,
  conducted by the University of Alberta
  Community-University Partnership, to determine
  whether delivering health, family support and
  recreation services in a coordinated way can lead
  to better outcomes for low-income families.
• Based in part on research conducted by Dr. Gina
  Browne in Ontario (2001), it will generate
  information in an Alberta context.

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Mission

• To improve the well-being of low-income families
  and their children through innovative service
  delivery, applied research, and well-informed
  public policy.

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Vision

• Stronger families through strengthened service
  delivery, supportive policies, and sound research.

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Who is Families First Edmonton?

• Families First Edmonton is a partnership with
  two co-leads, Alberta Human Resources and
  Employment and the City of Edmonton Community
  Services.
• They are joined by 10 other organizations, a
  service provider, and researchers from the
  Community-University Partnership at the
  University of Alberta.

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Process
Test
Measure
Assess
Generate Solutions
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What do you mean by research?

• Researchers to follow strictest ethical standards
  
• Researchers will collect basic information about
  families.
• Families will log certain information in a
  calendar (e.g. medical appointments, programs
  accessed, recreation accessed, etc.)

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What do you mean by research?

• Several times/year the researchers will connect
  with the families to ask questions.
• Researchers will visit with families in their
  homes no transportation required.

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1200 Families Needed

• Eligible families contacted by mail at random
• Completely voluntary
• To be eligible, families must
• have at least one child aged 0-12 years
• be receiving Alberta Works Income Support and/or
  Alberta Child Health Benefit for the past six
  months
• live in designated area north-central and
  north-east Edmonton

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Research Groups

• Self-directed will access same services as
  today.
• Recreation recreation assessment, families
  receive 250 per child to access recreation,
  supported by recreation coordinator.
• Family Healthy Lifestyle holistic
  assessment, links to health, social,
  recreational services. (not funded) Supported
  by family support coordinator.
• Comprehensive holistic assessment, families
  set goals, then are placed in existing programs
  to help achieve their goals. Supported by family
  support coordinators.

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Self-Directed Group

• The self-directed group will continue to access
  high quality services in the usual manner. Data
  will continue to be collected at intervals
  consistent with the other three groups.
• The self-directed group will allow
  researchers to compare the delivery of the three
  service models to how services are delivered
  without them.

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FFE models assisted services
Models will enhance service integration and
family capacity building
Family Healthy Lifestyle
Recreation

• 300 families
• Rec. Assessment
• Active outreach
• (placements, follow-up
• funding)
• Other needs self-directed
• Recreation Coordinators

• 300 families
• Holistic Assessment
• Supportive brokerage
• (service-links follow-up)
• Recreation access not
• funded
• Family Support Coordinators

Comprehensive

• 300 families
• Holistic Assessment
• Services based on needs
• Rec Assessment
• Placements, follow-up
• funding
• Family Support Coordinators

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Service Provider

• YMCA has been contracted to provide services to
  participating families.
• They have joined with Edmonton YMCA,
  Multicultural Health Brokers Cooperative, KARA
  Family Resource Centre, and Bent Arrow
  Traditional Healing Society to coordinate a
  comprehensive array of services to families
  involved with FFE. Together, they form Families
  Matter.

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Family Centered

• Families First Edmonton supports families in
  defining their family, based on their own
  cultural, religious, and personal experiences.
• The strength-based model focuses on family
  capacity and assets rather than deficiencies and
  problems.

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Families First

• is a project that builds on, and connects with,
  existing service delivery organizations.
• recognizes the value families place on being part
  of their community and having knowledge of and
  the ability to access community activities,
  services and programs.

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Frequently Asked Questions

• Is this just another study to sit on a shelf when
  its over?
• No, the partners have committed to identifying
  and implementing changes, based on the research,
  to help families achieve better outcomes in the
  future. The research is owned by the University
  of Alberta an impartial, objective, independent
  entity with the autonomy to publish and release
  the findings.

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Frequently Asked Questions

• What if a family does not use English as its
  first language?
• Translators can be provided by the Multi-Cultural
  Health Brokers Cooperative.
• How are families identified and contacted?
• Alberta Human Resources Employment generates
  the list of potential families. Families that
  participate are NOT identified to AHRE, and
  information collected is confidential.

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Frequently Asked Questions

• Why are services being withheld from the
  self-directed group?
• Theyre not. People in the self-directed group
  have the same access to services they do now. It
  is important to observe a group of people who
  represent the current state, in order to compare
  the results of the other three groups.

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Frequently Asked Questions

• Will participation affect a familys benefits or
  supports?
• No. Participation will not have any impact on
  Alberta Income Support and/or Alberta Child
  Health Benefits.
• Why north-central/north-east areas only?
• There are a high number of families with low
  incomes facing multiple barriers. At the same
  time, there are services not currently being
  accessed.

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Frequently Asked Questions

• Can families be referred to Families Matter
  without participating in the research?
• No, the Families Matter assessment and referral
  service exists only as part of the research
  project. Families are not referred to Families
  First they are selected at random.
• Why cant families choose their group?
• Randomly assigned families allow researchers to
  make the strongest conclusions.

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What Does Success Look Like?

• Researchers will determine which approach most
  successfully achieves the following outcomes
  among participants in the project
• Efficient use of existing resources
• Health and child development outcomes
• Cost-effective or being cost-neutral
• Cross-sectoral collaboration

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At the end of the project

• The Families First partners will make
  recommendations regarding the most effective ways
  to provide services to low-income families in
  Alberta.
• Government and not-for-profit organizations
  working together.

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What can you do?

• Know about the project.
• Put up posters, help increase awareness.
• Put a brief article in your newsletter.
• Give people the FFE phone number
• Refer people to the website for more information
• www.familiesfirstedmonton.ualberta.ca

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Questions?

• Families First Edmonton, 427-6053
• www.familiesfirstedmonton.ualberta.ca