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The Effectiveness of Extension Work in Clothing: A Study of 95 Farm Homes in Ford County, Kansas, 1930
Title
The Effectiveness of Extension Work in Clothing: A Study of 95 Farm Homes in Ford County, Kansas, 1930
Date
1932
Relation
Extension Service Circular 174
Subject
Excerpt
The extension clothing project was the subject of a study of 95 farm homes in Ford County, Kans.
Sewing machines were found in 95 per cent of these farm homes.
The new construction in these homes was largely limited to the making of dresses, underwear, and night clothes for women and children.
Clothing remodeling was largely confined to women's and children's dresses.
Approximately 54 per cent of the farm women interviewed reported the adoption of improved clothing practices recommended by the extension service.
The method demonstration meeting handled by the home demonstration agent or by the local leaders trained by the home demonstration agent and the clothing specialist was the outstanding means through which the women were influenced to change clothing practices. Fifty-six per cent of all clothing practices adopted were credited to this means. General meetings and leader-training meetings were credited with 17 per cent more of the practices, mailing a total of 73 per cent of all practices changed through the influence of meetings.
The condition of land tenure, size of the farm, distance from the extension office, character of roads, and educational training were factors which affected the extent to which the farm women made use of clothing extension information.
Age up to 50 years had comparatively little influence upon the acceptance of recommended clothing practices.
By far the most important factors, in addition to the means and agencies employed in extension teaching, which affected the adoption of clothing practices by farm women were membership in a home demonstration club, and contact with extension workers through office calls, home visits, meetings, and the like.
The comparatively slight spread of clothing information outside of the home demonstration club groups and through other means than those making for personal contacts, is largely accounted for by the emphasis placed upon the formal group method of teaching, and the fact that clothing subject matter is not easily adapted to the news story and does not spread rapidly from neighbor to neighbor.
Sewing machines were found in 95 per cent of these farm homes.
The new construction in these homes was largely limited to the making of dresses, underwear, and night clothes for women and children.
Clothing remodeling was largely confined to women's and children's dresses.
Approximately 54 per cent of the farm women interviewed reported the adoption of improved clothing practices recommended by the extension service.
The method demonstration meeting handled by the home demonstration agent or by the local leaders trained by the home demonstration agent and the clothing specialist was the outstanding means through which the women were influenced to change clothing practices. Fifty-six per cent of all clothing practices adopted were credited to this means. General meetings and leader-training meetings were credited with 17 per cent more of the practices, mailing a total of 73 per cent of all practices changed through the influence of meetings.
The condition of land tenure, size of the farm, distance from the extension office, character of roads, and educational training were factors which affected the extent to which the farm women made use of clothing extension information.
Age up to 50 years had comparatively little influence upon the acceptance of recommended clothing practices.
By far the most important factors, in addition to the means and agencies employed in extension teaching, which affected the adoption of clothing practices by farm women were membership in a home demonstration club, and contact with extension workers through office calls, home visits, meetings, and the like.
The comparatively slight spread of clothing information outside of the home demonstration club groups and through other means than those making for personal contacts, is largely accounted for by the emphasis placed upon the formal group method of teaching, and the fact that clothing subject matter is not easily adapted to the news story and does not spread rapidly from neighbor to neighbor.
Publisher
U.S. Department of Agriculture. Extension Service. Office of Cooperative Extension Work