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Department of Human Development and Family Studies
College of Health and Human Sciences

Human Development and Family Studies Projects

View our projects both current and past.

Promoting Healthy Aging and Families Research Laboratory

Current projects

Strengthening capacity to promote healthy behaviors and improve quality of life for older adults in rural Colorado

Funding from the USDA/NIFA Rural Health and Safety Education (RHSE) grant (September 2024-August 2027) will support the expansion of:

  • Healthy aging education and training for CSU Extension professionals and community partners through a new “Advancing Healthy Aging” webinar training series;
  • Aging Mastery Program (AMP) facilitator training for Extension professionals and community partners; and
  • Robust technical assistance (TA) for new host sites in rural Colorado looking to implement AMP in their communities (including Spanish-language support and TA).

Project Team Members:

  • Sue Schneider, CSU Extension State Health Specialist (Project Director and Co-PI)
  • Ginger Williams, CSU Extension Regional Health Specialist (Co-PI)
  • Christine Fruhauf, Professor, Department of Human Development and Family Studies, CSU (Evaluation Lead)
  • Natalie Bachmeier, CSU Health Extension Coordinator
  • Peggy Stoltenberg, CSU Program Manager, Northeast Regional Engagement Center

Past Projects

MY-Skills

In 2018, we received funding from the National Institutes of Health, National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (R34AT009688), to support the MY-Skills project. This project focused on improving the lives of people and their caregivers both experiencing persistent pain through a yoga and self-management education intervention. For this planning grant, we developed and tested the MY-Skills intervention, and assessed the feasibility and acceptability of MY-Skills and the research procedures including assessments.

Audio Described Version of Merging Yoga and self-management to develop Skills – MySkills (best experienced in Chrome)

GRANDcares

The GRANDcares project was funded from 2015-2020 by USDA/NIFA – Children Youth and Families At-Risk (2015-06132), and included the development of GRANDcares, a systems-based intervention for vulnerable grandparent-headed families. The project is based upon family resilience theory and focuses on strengthening self-care skills in custodial grandparents, developing communication and leadership skills in grandchildren, and increasing the ability of service providers to meet grandfamilies’ needs. The GRANDcares intervention contributed to the parent/family national CYFAR outcome, as it assisted grandparents in meeting their children’s physical, social, emotional, and intellectual needs. We originally delivered this program in Colorado and Hawaii, with colleagues from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, and although funding has ended, we still support local communities with implementing portions of the GRANDcares project.

Colorado State University Extension Relatives as Parents Program

In 2016, we received funding from The Brookdale Foundation Group to support Colorado State University Extension Relatives As Parents Program. For this project, we collaborated with the Grand Family Coalition, Inc. to support their HUGS group and quarterly social events for grandparents raising grandchildren. During this work, we engaged student learning with the GFC to achieve various course objectives related to gerontology.

Interactive On-line Legal Program for Grandparents Raising Grandchildren

Funding from Extension provided us the means to create and implement three learning modules for grandparents raising grandchildren and service providers assisting grandparents with legal issues. The videos and corresponding content address decision making in response to obtaining legal arrangements for grandchildren, selecting qualified legal representation, and courtroom behavior. The videos may be found on our Grandparents Raising Grandchildren webpage.

Larimer County Caregiver Coalition

From 2007 to 2011, we partnered with the Larimer County Office on Aging and served as the evaluator on the development and implementation of the Larimer County Caregiver Coalition on a grant project funded by The Colorado Trust Foundation – Healthy Aging Initiative. For this project, we evaluated the implementation of the Powerful Tools for Caregivers program, adult day services delivered through Elderhaus Adult Day Programs, and respite grants provided through the Older Americans Act National Family Caregiver Support Program.