Supporting Father Involvement: An Intervention With Community and Child Welfare–Referred Couples

Abstract

Objective To expand the evidence base of the Supporting Father Involvement (SFI) intervention to include child welfare families. Background Taking a preventive father‐inclusive approach, SFI aims to strengthen coparenting, parent–child relationships, and child outcomes. This study replicates 4 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. Method Participants (N = 239) included low‐income (median = $24,000) coparenting pairs, typically mothers and fathers/father figures, half of whom were Mexican American, with toddlers (median age < 3 years). Questionnaires assessing multiple family domains were administered verbally over an 18‐month period. Intervention effectiveness was tested through a randomized control trial with immediate treatment or waitlist–control groups using a moderated mediator structural equation model. Results The model explained 49% to 56% of the variance in children's problem behaviors (intervention and autoregressive effects). The intervention reduced couple conflict, which reduced anxious and harsh parenting, leading to better child outcomes. The intervention was equally effective for community and child welfare–referred families and family dynamics pathways were similar across conditions. Conclusion With its intentional outreach and inclusion of fathers, SFI offers an effective intervention for lower risk child welfare–involved families. Implications Results argue for the utility of treating community and child welfare parents in mixed‐gender prevention groups that focus on strengthening multiple levels of family relationships.

Fathers’ and mothers’ attachment styles, couple conflict, parenting quality, and children’s behavior problems: an intervention test of mediation

“…The intervention data in the current report are drawn from a Randomized Clinical Trial � (RCT) of the Supporting Father Involvement couples group intervention (Kline Pruett et al, 2019). We found that low-income parents' participation in the interventiona couples group meeting with clinically trained facilitators for 16 weeks -produced a significant reduction in couple conflict at two months post-intervention -a reduction still evident one year later.…”

“…Details of the recruitment, retention, and intervention procedures can be viewed in Kline Pruett et al (2019). As described in earlier U.S. trials of SFI (Cowan, Cowan, Pruett, Pruett, & Gillette, 2014;Cowan, Cowan, Pruett, Pruett, & Wong, 2009), staff members for the present study were located within existing Family Resource Centers in five California counties -one urban, the other four primarily agricultural, all low-income communities.…”

“…whether attachment security or insecurity is a mediating mechanism in the link between couple conflict and parenting quality). Here, we evaluated our hypotheses about mediation within the context of an intervention that produced direct effects on couple conflict (Pruett, Cowan, Cowant, Gillette, & Pruett, �2019 in press � ). This gave us an opportunity to go beyond correlational statements to make causal inferences about how couple relationship quality and parenting quality are linked.…”

“…In constructing the full structural model describing pathways among the constructs described above, we were guided by the literature and by the results of our intervention study (Kline Pruett et al, 2019) -the source of the present data set. Figure 1 presents a schematic view of the model tested in the current analyses.…”

Changing Families: A Preventive Intervention Perspective

“…Participants in the fathers-only groups showed increased involvement in the care of their children but declining relationship satisfaction, whereas mothers and fathers who attended the groups as couples reported increases in father involvement, declines in parenting stress, and stable levels of both relationship satisfaction and child behaviors over 18 months. We went on to replicate these findings with a second, more ethnically diverse sample (P. A. , and a third trial in which half of the families were referred by child welfare staff because of earlier domestic violence, child abuse, or neglect (Pruett, Cowan, Cowan, Gillette, & Pruett, 2019). In this latter, higher-risk sample, participation in a couples group intervention also produced statistically significant positive effects on reducing parents' relationship distress (conflict and violent problem-solving 2 months after the groups ended).…”