Fathering Roles and Alcohol Abuse in Northern Uganda

Introduction: This research team has the goal of including fathers in a culturally-adapted parent training program previously shown to be acceptable for mothers in Northern Uganda. The long-term goal of this work is to prevent negative child outcomes such as substance abuse (SA). Little is known about the role of fathering in SA etiology in spite of the well-documented relationship between father SA and child’s later SA. In general, fathers are underrepresented in the parenting literature and there is no academic literature related to fathering in Northern Uganda. Social Interaction Learning theory provides a framework for understanding the potential path from father’s SA to negative child outcomes.

Previous research in Northern Uganda has shown that over 50% of fathers consume alcohol at a hazardous level; consistent with research in other communities, SA is associated with family violence and harsh discipline (Saile et al., 2013). The goal of this study was to better understand the role of fathers in Northern Ugandan families with specific attention to the perceived impact of SA on fathering.

Methods: This study utilized ethnographic methodology and videotaped father-child interactions to learn about the roles of fathers and the perceived impact of SA in this post-conflict society. The first author conducted 25 in-depth interviews with fathers lasting 90-120 minutes, three focus groups of 6-9 men, one focus group with mothers, and approximately 12 informal interviews with key stakeholders and other community members. More than half of the interviews were conducted in Acholi with the assistance of interpreters, who were present at every interview and provided additional cultural insight and reflection. The data were coded following Spradley’s guidelines for domain analysis.

Results: The roles of fathers in this community are to (1) provide for the basic needs of children, (2) teach children (which includes discipline), and (3) provide a stable and peaceful home. Providing is generally seen as the most valuable role and often serves as the litmus test for a good father, even if the other roles are not being fulfilled. Each of these roles is broken into specific actions and there are clear perceptions in the community regarding the ways SA impacts each of these roles. Finally, many fathers expressed interest in learning additional parenting strategies through an intervention.

Conclusions: The results of these interviews and observations will allow our team to further specify and adapt the parenting intervention for fathers. Furthermore, this study provides insight into the impact of SA on parenting practices, allowing us to hypothesize about the role of fathering in SA etiology.