Financial coaching for expectant and new parents to support mental health, birth outcomes, and child development

Impact of a Medical-Financial Partnership Intervention on Parent Mental Health, Perinatal Outcomes, and Child Developmental Risk: A Community-Partnered, Multi-Site Randomized Trial

NIH-funded research University of California Los Angeles · NIH-11300973

This project offers one-on-one financial coaching inside clinics for expectant and new parents to reduce money stress and improve parent mental health, birth outcomes, and early child development.

Quick facts

Grant typeR01 grant
Study typeNIH-funded research
Funding institutionUniversity of California Los Angeles NIH-funded
Lab location1 site (Los Angeles, United States)
Project IDNIH-11300973 on NIH RePORTER

What this research studies

If you join, you'll be offered financial coaching through your clinic that connects you with financial professionals who help with budgeting, benefits, debt, and savings. The program uses Medical-Financial Partnerships that link healthcare teams with a national financial coaching organization and community partners. Clinics at multiple sites will randomize families to receive the integrated coaching or usual care, and researchers will follow parents' mental health, pregnancy and birth outcomes, and children's developmental screening over time. The project focuses on families with low incomes and aims to integrate coaching into routine prenatal and pediatric care.

Who could benefit from this research

Good fit: Ideal candidates are pregnant people or parents of infants and young children with low incomes who receive care at a participating clinic.

Not a fit: People who are not pregnant or parenting young children, not low-income, or who cannot attend participating clinics are unlikely to benefit from this program.

Why it matters

Potential benefit: If successful, this could reduce financial stress, improve parents' mental health, lower risk of poor birth outcomes, and support healthier early child development.

How similar studies have performed: Previous financial coaching programs have improved income, savings, and financial stress in smaller or non-randomized work, but randomized trials embedded in clinical care remain limited.

Where this research is happening

Los Angeles, United States

Researchers

About this research

  1. This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
  2. Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
  3. For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.
Last reviewed 2026-06-13 by the Find a Trial editorial team. Information on this page is for educational purposes and is not medical advice. Always consult qualified healthcare professionals about clinical trial participation.