Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

• National updates were provided by Scott Loveridge, Administrative Advisor and Brent Elrod, NIFA Representative.
• States provided updates related to progress addressing objectives during year one of the project renewal as well as professional challenges they were facing during the Covid-19 pandemic.
• History and collaborative philosophy of this and previous projects were discussed with new members to the project.
• During the virtual three-day annual meeting via Zoom breakout rooms facilitated brainstorming. Google Docs allowed us to submit ideas in a way to fully engaged all 30+ participants in a very productive manner.
• The research team generated priorities and next steps to be implemented during 2020-2021 for each of the key workgroups.
  • Objective 1: Create Community Profiles via secondary data compiled by the Community Context Data workgroup and qualitative data to be collected through remote interview protocol developed by Community Key Informants workgroup.
  • Objective 2: Examine Existing Data (from previous projects) will be implemented through writing teams consisting of researchers from two or more NC1171states examining factors impacting family resilience.
• Executive Board nominations were made, and the 2020-21 Board was voted in.

Accomplishments: Despite their vulnerability, many individuals and families living in rural areas demonstrate the capacity for resilience in the face of these adverse conditions and events. Resilient individuals, families, and communities are able to survive, and potentially thrive, through adversity. This project is poised to capture the challenges faced by families in rural communities impacted by natural disasters and unprecedented pandemic disruption. It is critical to determine both the unique community needs and resources within rural areas, as well as the best mechanisms for supporting resilient rural families.

The Covid pandemic necessitated that all project meetings move to a virtual platform.  Since NC1171 states span from Hawai'i to Florida (5 time zones), we are used to virtual committee meetings.  However, this was our first virtual three-day annual meeting. Zoom breakout rooms were great for brainstorming and the use of Google Docs allowed us submit ideas in a way that gave voice to our 30+ participants in a very efficient manner. Team members having to negotiate other responsibilities (e.g., teaching university classes, attending to work emergencies, providing oversight to their own children's lessons) could easily rejoin zoom, review the Google Doc and jump back into the conversation. In the next year, we plan to continue making progress on meeting the objectives as we can virtually interview community key informants and the subcommittee developing the protocol for family interview (planned for year three) can continue to meet via zoom.

Short-term Outcomes: None to report at this time.

Outputs:

• Special Issue of The Forum for Family and Consumer Issues: (Berry, Greder) To showcase the lessons learned from the past two decades of the multistate project, the team reviewed the published work across the three multistate projects (NC223, NC1011, NC1171) for a special issue of the online journal, The Forum for Family and Consumer Issues. The aim of this issue was to provide a full analysis of the extent to which research findings and results in each of the content areas in the Family Science Review (FSR) (Economic Security, Food Security, Health, Family Well-Being, and Latino/a Families) have been or could be applied by professionals when working with families who face risks in each domain / population. Manuscripts for this issue have been accepted and are in press.
• Publications and presentations: In addition to the special issue, collaborative teams have published three five reviewed articles and nine juried national presentations.
• NIFA Impact Statement: Worked with a NIFA Impact Writer to develop a pdf to use in sharing how NC1171 findings help the public understand rural family challenges through a multi-state approach.
• Researcher Spotlight in the NIFA Multistate Research Fund Impact publication. Lori Yancura (NC1171 Chair 2018-2020) shared her insights on the importance of rural families, her influences and journey as a researcher, the challenges of working with diverse rural populations, and the impacts of the project. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVh3CTgeC90&feature=youtu.be
• Proposals for Leverage Funding Submitted to NIH: (Yancura, Barnett, Sano) and The Interdisciplinary Network on Rural Population Health and Aging (Yancura, Barnett). Please note details below.

Activities:

• Monthly Executive Board Meetings via Zoom
• Regularly scheduled subgroup meetings for article/presentation/grant authorship
• Graduate students trained in literature review and presentation skills as well as analysis of qualitative/quantitative data.

Milestones: Despite Covid-19 restrictions during the 2019-2020 project year, the research team made solid progress fulfilling year one objectives. Thankfully this project year was designed to collect secondary data from community datasets (Objective 1) and mine the previously collected project data (Objective 2). Plans are underway to collect qualitative data virtually from community key informants during 2021.

Publications:

Bird, C.L., Chandler, K. D., Berry, A.A., & Barrett-Rivera, B. (In press).  SNAP policies and the realities of rural working families: Implications for practitioners.  The Forum for Family and Consumer Issues.

Greder, K. and Berry, A. (Guest Editors). (In Press). Special Issue on Rural Families. The Forum on Family and Consumer Issues.

Greder, K., Cancel-Tirado, D. I., Routh, B., & Bao, J. (In Press). Engaging with Rural Latinx Families. The Forum on Family and Consumer Issues.

Greder, K., Zaman, A., Routh, B. Hammons, A., & Villegas, E. (2020) Rural Midwestern Mexican fathers’ perspectives on family food, mealtimes, and physical activity. Ecology of Food and Nutrition. DOI: 10.1080/03670244.2020.1858408.

Mammen, S., Sano, Y., Braun, B., & Maring, E.F. (2019). Shaping Core Health Messages: Rural, Low-Income Mothers Speak Through Participatory Action Research. Health Communication. 32(10), 1141-1149.

Routh, B., Burney, J., Greder, K., Katras, M. J., and Johnson, K. (In Press) Rural Health Disparities: Connecting Research and Practice. The Forum for Family Consumer Issues.

Sano, Y., Greder, K., & Mammen, S. (In Press). Development of food security messages with rural, low-income mothers. The Forum on Family and Consumer Issues. 

Sano, Y., Mammen, S., & Houghten, M. (Accepted). Well-being and stability among low-income families: A 10-year review of research. Journal of Family and Economic Issues.

Sano, Y., Bolkan, C. R., & Mammen, S. (2020). Maternal Depression and Family Health Context: Tracking Depression Trajectories of Rural, Low-Income Mothers. Journal of Family Social Work, 23(3), 293-312.

Yancura, L., Barnett, M., Sano, Y., & Mammen, S. (2020). Context Matters: Critical Grandparent Contributions to Low-Income Rural Families. Child & Family Social Work, 25(2), 267-276.  https://doi.org/10.1111/cfs.12682

Papers Submitted

Bao, J. and Greder, K. Role of Individual and Family Processes in Relationships between Stressors and Behavior Problems among Low-income Latinx Children in Rural Midwestern Communities. Journal of Latinx Psychology.

Peek, G., Greder, K., and Berry A. Relationship between home environment and healthy living. Housing and Society.

Sano, Y., & Mammen, S. (Under review). Mitigating the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic on rural low-income families. Submitted to Rural Sociology.

Juried national presentations

Bao, J., Zhang, D., and Greder, K. (2020, November – Virtual) Characteristics of Body Mass Index (BMI): Trajectories among Low-income Latina Immigrant Mothers in Rural Midwestern Communities. Poster presented at the National Council on Family Relations Annual Conference.

Cox, R., Hua, L., Sahbaz, S., Washburn, I., and Greder, K. (2020, November - Virtual). Testing the Psychometric Properties of Four Measures on a Sample of Latino Immigrant Youth. Paper symposium to be presented at the National Council on Family Relations  Annual Conference

Dyk, P., Radunovich, H., Sano, Y., Berry, A. & Counts, K. (2020, February). Challenges Accessing Healthcare: Insights from Rural Low-Income Mothers. Presented at the annual meeting of Southern Rural Sociological Association, Louisville, KY.

Fenton, M.P., Radunovich, H.L., Ontai, L., & Yancura, L. (2019, October). Transition to adulthood for rural, low-income mothers. Poster presentation for the Society for the Study of Emerging Adulthood Conference, Toronto, Canada

Houghten, M., Sano, Y., Ward, C., & Dyk, P. (2020, August). “I just wasn’t getting the help that I needed”: Health management and coordination among rural low-income families within the context of healthcare reform. Rural Sociological Society, Westminster, Colorado. [Conference canceled due to Coronavirus global pandemic

Smith, S. & Yancura, L. (2019, June). Bringing Rural Families’ Experiences into the Classroom.  Presented at the annual Teaching Family Science Conference, Kauai, Hawai`i. 

Sano, Y., Greder, K., & Mammen, S. (2020, August. Accepted but not presented)*. Development and Evaluation of Food Security Messages with Rural, Low-Income Mothers. Paper presentation at the annual meeting of American Evaluation Association [*Changed to online only conference due to Coronavirus global pandemic. Due to reduced size of presentation].

Sano, Y., Greder, K., Mammen, S., and Bao, J. (2020, November – Virtual). Health Understanding and Health Outcomes among Rural, Low-Income Mothers. Poster to be presented at the National Council on Family Relations Annual Conference.

Wiles, B.B., Ferraro, A.J., Piper, J.L., Radunovich, H.L., Dyk, P. H., & Sano, Y. (2019, November). The experiences, orientation, and beliefs of rural, low-income mothers’ health insurance and health care access and use. Presentation to the National Council for Family Relations Annual Conference, Ft. Worth, TX.

Grants Submitted

Title: Race, Resources, and Resilience: Intersections Among Social Resources, Family Resilience, and Health Outcomes in Low Income Minority Families

Agency: National Institutes of Health, Minority Health Disparities (NIMH)

Amount: $2,393,139. (unfunded)

Authors: Yancura, L., Barnett, M., Sano, Y.

Title:  Grandparent Support in Low Income Rural Families

Agency: The Interdisciplinary Network on Rural Population Health and Aging

Amount: $9,964 (unfunded)

Authors:  Yancura, L. Barnett, M.