Introduction to the Special Issue on "Financial Capability and Asset Building for Family Financial Wellbeing".

The papers in this issue emerged from a 2020 social work academic conference focused on financial capability and asset building (FCAB) research. This introduction provides an overview of the challenging financial and economic realities for U.S. families that provide the context for these papers. An outline of social work?s unique role with these families precedes a brief introduction to each included paper. ?Building on these papers, the authors provide an overview of future directions for FCAB research in the areas of theory and methods. Regarding theory, the FCAB field will benefit from the further exploration of the role of access and context for financial capability, as well as the use of institutional theory in FCAB practice and research. The role of relationships on financial behavior is also under-researched along with the intersection of FCAB with clinical issues and other human needs. Regarding methods, future research that uses qualitative and longitudinal data is also needed to advance FCAB knowledge. Overall, interdisciplinary work across social work and consumer finance to build models that span professional boundaries and incorporate FCAB into consumer financial wellbeing models will advance theory and evidence.

Connection and autonomy in the case management relationship.

This study examines the effects of connection and autonomy in the client-case manager relationship on treatment participation, satisfaction with case management, and satisfaction with social life. Three-month case manager ratings of connection were positively correlated with 9-month treatment participation. Six-month client and case manager ratings of connection were positively correlated with improvements in all three outcomes at nine months. Within this time frame, autonomy was positively correlated with treatment participation and satisfaction with case management and negatively correlated with satisfaction with social life. These findings suggest that balancing connection and autonomy in different ways is important in the case management relationship.