Engaging Fathers in Effective Parenting for Preschool Children Using Shared Book Reading: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Abstract

Engaging fathers and improving their parenting and, in turn, outcomes for their children in preventive/promotion-focused parenting interventions has been a notable, but understudied, challenge in the field. This study evaluated the effects of a novel intervention, Fathers Supporting Success in Preschoolers: A Community Parent Education Program, which focuses on integrating behavioral parent training with shared book reading (i.e., Dialogic Reading) using key conceptual models (i.e., common elements, deployment model, task shifting) to engage and improve father (i.e., male guardians) and child outcomes. One hundred twenty-six low-income, Spanish-speaking fathers and their children were recruited across three Head Start centers in urban communities and were randomized to the intervention or to a waitlist control condition. Outcomes were obtained before and immediately postintervention and included observed and father-reported parenting and child behaviors, standardized assessments of language, and father self-reported parental stress and depressive symptoms. Attendance data were also collected as a proxy measure of engagement to the intervention. Parenting behaviors (observed and father-reported), child behaviors (father-reported), and language development of the children in the intervention group improved significantly relative to those in the waitlist control condition. Effect sizes (ESs) were in the small to large range across outcomes. Fathers can be engaged in parenting interventions, resulting in improved parent and child outcomes. Greater attention must be given to methods for maximizing parenting within a family and toward developing effective, engaging, and sustainable intervention models for fathers.

Fathers Are Parents, Too! Widening the Lens on Parenting for Children's Development

“…Research is slowly moving in this direction. New interventions for fathers have significantly enhanced the quality of father–child interactions and paternal self‐efficacy , and coparenting interventions have reduced mothers’ and fathers’ parenting stress and symptoms of depression, and have enhanced parenting quality .…”

Enhancing Father Engagement in Parenting Programs: Translating Research into Practice Recommendations

“…Research also suggests that fathers may be more willing to engage in parenting programs with their partners rather than in father‐only programs (Fletcher et al, ; Salinas, Smith, & Armstrong, ). With one study of a fathers only program revealing that in post‐treatment focus group interviews some fathers noted they would have preferred to have the child's mother more involved in the parenting program directed at fathers only (Chacko et al, ).…”

“…To achieve this approach, it is important that positive representations of fathers’ roles and contributions are clearly communicated by those delivering parenting programs. Other researchers have recommended that a strength‐based approach (likely to improve father engagement) may be achieved by remaining child rather than parent focused by structuring program objectives around functional child outcomes such as language skills or reading rather than on a need to “fix” parenting deficits (Chacko et al, ). While others have recommended focusing both on child wellbeing and on “what kind of parent” a father wants to be as a way of fostering a strengths‐based approach to engaging fathers in parenting interventions (Pruett, Pruett, Cowan, & Cowan, ).…”

“…However, the research conducted to date remains limited in quality and quantity (Panter‐Brick et al, ). Few randomised controlled trials (RCTs), the gold standard in research design, have been conducted (for exceptions, see Chacko, Fabiano, Doctoroff, & Forston, ; Cowan, Cowan, Pruett, Pruett, & Wong, ; Frank, Keown, & Sanders, ). Instead, the father engagement literature tends to be dominated by descriptive research involving narrative reviews (e.g., Maxwell, Scourfield, Featherstone, Holland, & Tolman, ; Tiano & McNeil, ), reports from expert working groups (e.g., FaHCSIA, ; Fletcher, May, St George, Stoker, & Oshan, ; King et al, ), or qualitative research with fathers or practitioners (e.g., Anderson, Kohler, & Letiecq, ; Gershy & Omer, ).…”

Parent Education: What We Know and Moving Forward for Greatest Impact

“…Moreover, a strength‐based approach rather than a deficit model may be helpful (especially when working with fathers). For example, parents may not feel they need parenting advice, but may be open to learning ways to help their children succeed in school (Chacko et al, ). Moreover, programs should be easily accessible and embedded in community organizations that regularly serve parents and children such as schools, faith‐based communities, pediatrician offices, and clinics (Morris, Robinson, et al, 2017).…”