Encouraging Attendance and Engagement in Parenting Programs: Developing a Smartphone Application with Fathers, for Fathers

Building Bridges and Bonds (B3), a study of Responsible Fatherhood programs, is testing a set of innovative approaches designed to help fathers advance their parenting and employment skills. One of these innovations is a new smartphone-based application called DadTime. DadTime is designed to support engagement with and attendance at a parenting program called Just Beginning, another B3 innovation. This brief describes how researchers collaborated with fathers--the intended users--to develop DadTime.