Session: Engaging Fathers in Parent Training Programs: Design, Recruitment, and Implementation Considerations (Society for Prevention Research 25th Annual Meeting)

There is strong evidence that parent training programs (PTP) promote positive child outcomes across development and across multiple domains, including mental and physical health, substance use, and academic achievement. However, despite emerging evidence that the effects of PTPs are more favorable and more likely to be sustained when fathers (i.e., siginificant male caregiver in child’s life) are represented, PTPs have tended to disproportionately focus on engaging and changing the parenting practices of mothers. This is disconcerting because research shows that the quality of fathers’ parenting is an important protective factor for children facing normative stressors as well as adversity. Moreover, due to changing social and cultural norms and an economic context in which mothers are joining the workforce at higher rates, fathers are increasingly assuming more parenting responsibilities. Collectively, the three papers in this symposium highlight that when fathers’ needs and preferences related to intervention recruitment, design, and implementation strategies are considered, fathers can be successfully engaged in both family-centered and father-specific PTPs to affect child and family outcomes.

Study 1 presents results from the first randomized effectiveness trial of a program specifically designed to strengthen parenting among divorced fathers. Although previous studies have found that PTPs strengthen post-divorce parenting of mothers, this is the first program focused on divorced fathers. This study is particularly timely because, due to changing custody laws, fathers’ are increasingly spending more time with their children after divorce. Study 2 presents a behavioral PTP specifically designed for fathers that includes a recreational activity during which fathers practice the parenting strategies they learn. The program has recently been adapted for use as an after-school program in Head Start preschools to increase fathers’ engagement in their child’s schooling and improve parental functioning; study 2 presents the results from a pilot evaluation of this adaptation. Study 3 examines if the effects of a family-centered intervention on child outcomes are more robust when both mothers and fathers participate and if these enhanced effects are explained by mothers’ use of an intervention-targeted parenting skill, anticipating that fathers’ participation may support mothers use of new parenting skills.

At the conclusion of the presentations, the discussant will summarize key themes across the projects and highlight their collective contribution in advancing prevention science and practice. The discussant will also moderate a dialogue among presenters and the audience about implications for these findings for development and implementation of PTPs.