This research is based on in-depth ethnographic interviews and focus groups with 88 African American family caregivers from various regions of the United States during a stressful time in their family development--caregiving at the end-of-life--and the grieving during the aftermath. The study employed a stratified purposeful sampling strategy. Subjects were African Americans from the Northern, Southern, and Midwestern United States. Formal care is complicated by the distrust that many African Americans hold toward the health care system, which has resulted from years of exclusion, racism and discrimination. The findings highlight the importance of hearing from African American families to gain an understanding of what services, including family therapy and other psychotherapy, they will need during this process.

The objective of this study was to explore whether singing an educational song would be effective in improving older adults' knowledge about nutrition. We used a randomized controlled design to determine whether singing an educational song would result in increased nutrition knowledge in a low-income population of older adults compared to a control group of similar adults who did not sing the song. Eighteen congregate nutrition sites were randomly assigned to the treatment or control group. Analysis via independent samples t -test showed the knowledge gain mean scores for the treatment group were significantly ( P < 0.05) greater than those of the control group. This study supports a unique new approach to increasing nutrition knowledge of older adults by using music.

Recent economic troubles in the US and abroad highlight the importance of family financial capability, including an understanding of financial markets. Financial capability is the foundation for desired financial behaviours, such as saving, budgeting, using credit wisely and planning. Study participants, a subsample of respondents to a Turkish university financial literacy survey (n = 374), who reported uninterrupted income for a 3-year period were grouped as 'planners' and 'non-planners'. These groupings allowed examination of the relationships between planning, financial management decisions, and differential outcomes in daily household financial well-being. The practice of preferred financial management behaviours was predictive of debt. This research makes a unique contribution to the literature, demonstrating the importance of uninterrupted income over income amount in support of the planning process. Findings of this study have implications for professionals in the family and consumer sciences field and other practitioners assisting consumers with improving financial management outcomes.

United States (U.S.) national and North Carolina state data on older adult food insecurity in combination with associated poor nutrition-related health outcomes point to a critical need for interventions to improve their food security. Nearly 8% of North Carolinians aged 60 and older and 11% of those aged 50-59 are food insecure, placing North Carolina in the top ten states in the U.S. for food insecurity for both age groups. Therefore, the Better Choices intervention was designed to educate limited-income older adults in ways to manage their meager resources to purchase more and healthier foods. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of the Better Choices intervention in improving the knowledge, attitude, and behavior of participants concerning their food money resource management. Older adults (n 5 453) with ages ranging from 59 to over 90 years participated in 8 weeks of educational programming delivered by educators in 15 participating North Carolina counties. In a cross-over program design participating counties were randomly assigned to two groups, to create a control for the food money resource management treatment. A three-points-in-time survey supported longitudinal measurement. Independent samples t-tests showed no significant differences between groups at baseline. Paired sample t-test results show the intervention was effective with statistically significant improvement of participants' knowledge regarding preparing a healthy meal on a budget, beans as a low-cost alternative to meat, and the use of unit pricing to compare products to identify the best value. Participantdeveloped action plans reflected planned behavior change. Study results show this group of older adults were capable of and willing to adopt new behaviors for a healthier lifestyle. While not a representative sample, the broad applicability of adult learning and planned behavior theories underpinning the program lead us to conclude that the methods and theories applied in this intervention should be of use to educators and practitioners serving limited-resource older adult populations. K E Y W O R D Sfood money resource management, food shopping behaviors, older adult food insecurity

A Health in All Policies approach engages cross-sector stakeholders to collaboratively improve systems that drive population health. We, the members of the Extension Committee on Organization and Policy (ECOP)’s Health in All Policies Action Team, propose that adopting a Health in All Policies approach within the national Cooperative Extension System will better prepare us to contribute meaningfully to improving the nation’s health. We first explain the Health in All Policies approach and argue for why and how it is relevant for Extension. We then present insights gathered from Extension Family and Consumer Sciences program leaders and state specialists to assess whether national and state leadership are poised to adopt a Health in All Policies approach within their affiliated programs. Although participant leaders saw the value of the approach in contributing to population health improvement, they generally saw the Extension system as having lower levels of readiness to adopt such an approach. Six themes emerged as ways to increase Extension’s engagement in Health in All Policies: a paradigm shift within Extension, professional development of competencies, transformational leaders and leadership support, continued and new partnerships, information access for all levels and disciplines of Extension.