Promoting Father Involvement Early In Vulnerable Families: Findings from a Randomized Controlled Trial of Dads Matter-HV

Background and Purpose:

Despite growing evidence underscoring the importance of fathers in children’s early development, early childhood services face a paucity of evidence-based strategies to effectively guide them in strengthening positive father involvement. In this context, our team designed, developed and tested “Dads Matter-HV” a theory-based manualized father inclusion service enhancement for perinatal home visiting services, one that guides home visitors to optimize fathers’ positive roles and strengthen co-parenting support to promote young children’s development.

This presentation provides findings from a cluster randomized controlled trial (RCT) testing the “Dads Matter-HV” (“DM”) enhancement and traces hypothesized mediating pathways through which the intervention influences fathers’ positive involvement.

Methods:

A multisite clustered RCT was conducted with 17 home visiting teams, serving 151 families post-natally enrolled in services, randomly assigned to either DM enhanced intervention or standard services control group conditions. Of the families enrolled in the study, 91% (n = 138) were retained at follow-up (either mother, father, or both parents). Most fathers in the study identified as Latinx (73%) or African American/Black (23%), reported being unmarried (36%) or in cohabiting romantic relationships (36%), and were employed (59%). Data were collected from both mothers and fathers at baseline (service enrollment), 4-month follow-up after Dads Matter enhanced services were delivered, and 12-month follow-up. Fidelity was tracked using an established instrument and families and data collectors were masked to condition. Fathers’ positive involvement was measured by a previously validated instrument, asking about interactions with infants on seven common early childhood parenting activities. Using structural equation modeling (SEM), and entering father involvement at baseline as a covariate, we examine the effect of the intervention on fathers' positive involvement and hypothesized mediators, including fathers' engagement in services, mothers' perceived support from fathers, and father-mother interparental conflict.

Results:

SEM analyses indicated a satisfactory fit to the hypothesized model (X2 = 3.56, CFI = .99, RMSEA = . 001, SRMR = .031). The path model found that the DM enhancement predicted greater father engagement in services at 4-months, which then predicted improved father-to-mother support, and lower mother-father interparental conflict (both at 4 months). These improved parental relationship quality indicators next predicted greater positive father involvement at 4 months, which predicted greater subsequent father involvement at 12-month follow-up. Additionally, greater father engagement in services at 4 months directly predicted greater positive father involvement with their infants at 12-month follow up.

Conclusions and Implications:

Dads Matter-HV can strengthen fathers’ positive involvement with their infants when added on to standard evidence-based perinatal home visitation services. Findings indicate that DM operates by strengthening father engagement in services, which in turn, improves qualities of the mother-father relationship, thereby leading to greater fathers’ positive involvement with their infants. Additionally fathers’ greater engagement in services can directly lead to improved father involvement with their infants. Such evidence-based strategies can help reorient the broad field of home visitation so that it is fully inclusive in supporting the parenting of both mothers and fathers of very young children.