Working with fathers to improve children’s well-being: What’s going on out there?

Jonathan Scourfield Cardiff University

Why work with fathers?• There is plenty of evidence that fathers influence long-

term outcomes for children, positively and negatively.• Evidence on interventions is less clear• Relatively little evidence for fathers specifically• What we do know shows a mixed picture

• Parenting interventions involving fathers as well as mothers are more effective (Lundahl et al., 2008)

• But fathers gain less from some parenting programmes than mothers (Wilson et al., 2012)

Practitioner survey

Web-based (qualtrics)

221 respondents from 53% of UK local authorities

• 63% universal services• 29% targeted on fathers who are

vulnerable or in need of support• 8% specialist services for fathers with

complex needs

Type of service % of sample

% fathers only

Structured parent training classes

63% 15%

Practical activities including play

62% 38%

Unstructured support groups 47% 39%

Advice on employment or benefits

39% 9%

Legal advice 20% 29%

The commonest named interventionsTriple P 38 (17%)Incredible Years 25 (11%)Solihull Approach 14 (6%)Family Links Nurturing Programme 9 (4%)Mellow Parenting 5 (2%)Caring Dads * 4 (2%)National Childbirth Trust ante-natal classes 4 (2%)Parents Early Education Partnership (PEEP) 4 (2%)Strengthening Families 10-14 4 (2%)Family Caring Trust 3 (1%)Strengthening Families, Strengthening Communities 3 (1%)

* The only one for fathers only

Numbers of fathers in last 12 monthsType of service mean median range

Structured parent training classes

27 8 0-314

Practical activities including play

44 20 0-600

Unstructured support groups 20 12 0-70

Advice on employment or benefits

17 9 0-130

Legal advice 10 6 0-60

All services, including ‘other’

28 10 0-600

Respondent’s own reason

Promote fathers’ rights

Prevent abuse of women and children

Take pressure off mothers

Improve wellbeing of fathers

Improve behaviour management

Improve father-child attachment

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Mean rank: 7=highest, 1=lowest

Intervention ideology

Intervention theory

Family systems

Counselling

Feminist

Material help

Psychodynamic

Cognitive

Behaviourist

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Mean agreement (7=strongly agree, 1=strongly disagree)

Recruiting fathers to interventions• Attitudinal orientation• Assumption of fathers’ involvement from the start• Better data and recording systems• Flexible working hours• Special events for fathers and children• Providing food as a draw• Acknowledging the need for cultural diversity• Recruitment via mothers• Use of text messaging and email

We need to know more about what works in recruiting fathers. Contact me if interested (scourfield@cardiff.ac.uk)

http://workingwithfathers.weebly.com/

Wilson, P., Rush, R., Hussey, S., Puckering, C., Sim, F., Allely, C.S., Doku, P., McConnachie, A. and Gillberg, C. (2012) How evidence-based is an 'evidence-based parenting program'? A PRISMA systematic review and meta-analysis of Triple P. BMC Medicine, 10:130.

ReferencesLundahl, B., Tollefson, D., Risser, H. and Lovejoy, M. (2008) A meta-analysis of father involvement in parent training. Research on Social Work Practice 18: 97-106.