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Journal Article Taking a preventive father-inclusive approach, the Supporting Father Involvement (SFI) intervention aims to strengthen coparenting, parent–child relationships, and child outcomes. This study replicates four prior iterations of the program using the same 32-hour curriculum facilitated by clinically trained staff, case managers, and onsite child care and family meals. With its intentional outreach and inclusion of fathers, SFI offers an effective intervention for lower risk child welfare–involved families. Results argue for the utility of treating community and child welfare parents in mixed…
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Journal Article Although the benefits of breastfeeding are well‐documented, little is known about how best to encourage fathers to support breastfeeding. A quasi‐experimental study of a community‐based intervention was designed to examine whether health education to promote fathers' involvement in supporting women is associated with early initiation and exclusive breastfeeding practices. At baseline, 802 couples of fathers with pregnant wives from 12 to 27 weeks of gestational age were recruited to either the intervention group (n = 390) or a control group (n = 412) consisting of couples seeking care…
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Journal Article Literature in developmental psychology suggests that mothers and fathers both play unique and important roles in their children’s development. However, research investigating the unique contributions and psychological functioning of fathers of youth with developmental disabilities, and the role that fathers play in effective intervention, remains limited. Whereas evidence suggests that parent-mediated interventions for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) can lead to increased engagement from parents, and reduced stress and psychopathology commonly experienced by parents of youth with…
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Journal Article Research on the situated contexts of fathering has found that the social and symbolic dimensions of fathering spaces influence how men construct and enact fatherhood scripts. Qualitative studies of fatherhood programs have mostly investigated parenting education and job assistance programs, revealing how fathering interventions allow disadvantaged men to shape positive paternal identities. In‐depth interviews and focus groups were conducted with a nonrandom sample of 64 primarily Black and Latino low‐income fathers who participated in a federally funded responsible fatherhood program. An…
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Journal Article This editorial shares lessons learned from providing a parenting intervention, employment support, an internship, case management, and behavioral health services to young fathers in a community-based program, FatherWorks (an adaptation of Supporting Father Involvement), designed to reduce unintended pregnancies. These lessons were identified through monthly team meetings over the course of a six-year grant from the Personal Responsibility Education Innovative Strategies Program of the Family and Youth Services Bureau. (Author abstract modified)
This fact sheet defines whole family approaches, as well as the rationale behind them. It also describes the types of services offered by whole family programs.
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Journal Article An examination of the content and processes of evidence-based programs is critical for empirically evaluating theories about how programs work, the “action theory” of the program (West et al. in American Journal of Community Psychology, 21, 571–605, 1993). The New Beginnings Program (NBP; Wolchik et al., 2007), a parenting-after-divorce preventive intervention, theorizes that program-induced improvements in parenting across three domains: positive relationship quality, effective discipline, and protecting children from interparental conflict, will reduce the negative outcomes that are common…
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Training Materials Real Life Heroes® (RLH) is a treatment program that supports the development of safety and attachment needed for reintegration of traumatic memories experienced by children and their caregivers. RLH has been successfully implemented in a wide range of child and family service, educational, and mental health treatment programs for 15 years and was specifically designed for treatment of children and families with Complex Trauma. RLH provides practitioners with easy-to-use tools, including a life storybook and practitioner’s manual (RLH Toolkit) with multi-sensory creative arts activities and…
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Journal Article This study reports the results of a Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) needs assessment of programs, services, and support systems for fathers in the City of Detroit, Michigan. The goal of this needs assessment was to assess the availability of parenting support services to men through multiple perspectives. To enact a CBPR approach, the research team collected qualitative data through interviews with service providers and community dialogues with fathers and consulted a community advisory board for further guidance on the research efforts. The research team engaged in member…
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Journal Article The Incredible Years (IY) Parent and Child Series are evidence-based interventions that increase knowledge and mastery of parenting, mood regulation, and interpersonal problem solving strategies for caregivers while developing similar social and emotional skills in their children. Rogers, Bobich, and Heppell (2016) use a case study approach to examine the effectiveness of adaptations of the IY program for delivery in a transitional housing shelter. They describe strategies for modifying IY to meet the needs of a vulnerable population within the context of the shelter and the broader welfare…
