Improving the Parenting Skills of Fathers of Preschool Children in Head Start: A Wait-List Controlled Study

Increased, meaningful father involvement in early childhood is a clear and long-standing national priority (for the remainder of this application “father” is a term broadly construed and refers to any primary male caretaker). Indeed, the White House (Office of the White House, 2012), multiple federal agencies including the Office of Head Start, Department of Education, and national information clearinghouses all emphasize the importance of father involvement in promoting healthy child development, stable families, and positive long-term outcomes. Within this context, it is therefore highly problematic that fathers are just as under-represented in practice in early childhood settings as they are in the larger research literature examining preventive interventions and child development (Cassano, Adrian, Veits, & Zeman, 2006; Fabiano, 2007; Lee & Hunsley, 2006; Phares, 1996; Tiano & McNeil, 2005).

In a program of research, the Coaching Our Acting Out Children: Heightening Essential Skills (COACHES; Chacko, Fabiano et al., under review; Fabiano et al., 2012; Fabiano et al., 2009) program has been investigated as a mechanism to engage and treat fathers of children with challenging behaviors. Recently, the COACHES program was adapted for use as an after-school program in Head Start preschools to determine whether it might increase paternal engagement in school activities and improve functional parenting outcomes.

METHODS: Sixty-seven male caregivers and their 3- to 5-year old preschooler enrolled in the program. Head Start academies were matched by the number of classrooms within them and then randomly assigned within matched pairs to receive the COACHES program immediately or a waitlist group that received the COACHES program after all post-treatment data were collected. The primary outcome measure was observations of parent-child interactions following the completion of the first COACHES program.

RESULTS: Results indicated fathers enrolled in the COACHES program significantly reduced negative talk relative to the waitlist group (d = .73), and there was a trend toward reduced commands (d = .44), whereas total praise was not different (d = -.02).

CONCLUSIONS: The COACHES program appears to show promise as a viable intervention for reducing negative and coercive parenting practices within a Head Start preschool setting. In addition, it appears to be a feasible and effective means of increasing father involvement in early childhood settings, an area in need of continued emphasis and study.