Enhancing father engagement in parenting programs: A challenge for practitioners and policymakers

Why focus on engaging fathers?

Evidence-based parenting interventions have been shown to have immediate and long-term positive effects on children’s wellbeing.¹⁷ More recently, research has shown increased positive changes in children’s behaviour and better parenting practices resulting from programs involving fathers as well as mothers.¹⁵ Yet fathers are underrepresented in services that concern child wellbeing.^{4, 23} Therefore, an important challenge for practitioners and policymakers is to promote father engagement in order to optimise the benefits of parenting interventions for children and families.

How can practitioners and services engage fathers?

A recent literature review by the University of Sydney identified six evidence-based policy and practice recommendations to enhance father engagement:

1.  Engage the parenting team

Clinicians and services should work to engage the core parenting team (i.e. fathers alongside mothers) in parenting interventions, as this has been found to lead to enhanced child and family outcomes.^{15, 19} Furthermore, research has suggested that fathers have a preference for, and willingness to, engage in programs alongside their parenting partner.^{7, 21}

Practitioners and organisations should aim to collect family information from both parents to optimise engagement, avoid marginalising either parent, and track outcomes for fathers as well as mothers.⁴

It may take time to identify who forms the core parenting team across different family structures. It is also important to recognise that there may be circumstances in which engaging the father (or the mother) may not be appropriate and should be explored with the referring parent (e.g. domestic and family violence situations).

2.  Avoid a father deficit model

When engaging fathers, practitioners and services should convey positive representations of fathers’ roles and contributions. Fathers have cited negative assumptions made by staff as a common barrier to their engagement with services.²

Research has also found that fathers’ own beliefs in their capabilities (i.e. perceived self-efficacy) are associated with their intentions to participate in programs.²⁰

Therefore, it is critical for practitioners and services to recognise the expertise of both fathers and mothers, and to work with fathers as well as mothers to foster engagement, identify areas for skill-building, and increase both parents’ capacity to parent effectively.¹²

3.  Increase fathers’ awareness of parenting interventions

Studies have shown low levels of awareness about parenting interventions amongst fathers.^{10, 27} Research with fathers has also indicated that their decision to participate is most influenced by:^{10, 22, 27}

• understanding what is involved
• knowing the facilitator is trained
• knowing the program has evidence to support its effectiveness; and
• the program being held at a convenient location.

As a result, it is recommended that professionals and services:

• actively communicate information to fathers (as well as mothers)
• emphasise the importance and benefits of father participation; and
• highlight information regarding program content, effectiveness and accessibility.

4.  Ensure content and delivery of programs is father-inclusive

Practitioners and organisations should ensure interventions reflect the needs and preferences of fathers as well as mothers. Research has suggested fathers are interested in topics related to practical parenting skills and enhancing children’s social competence.^{10, 27}

Fathers, like mothers, also prefer less intensive interventions, such as brief parenting programs and internet-based programs.^{10, 17, 28} This suggests practitioners may need to consider:

• how parenting programs can be made available in a variety of formats; and
• how programs can be delivered in briefer and/or more targeted ways.

Incorporating both direct and indirect engagement into the design and delivery of parenting interventions may provide more flexible options for father participation. Practitioners should directly invite fathers to participate in parenting interventions where possible,¹⁸ as poor attendance rates have been linked to a lack of direct invitation.³

Practitioners can also seek to engage fathers indirectly via mothers, by emphasising the importance of father involvement and offering to contact fathers to discuss participating in the program.²⁷

It is also important for practitioners not to assume that a non-attending parent is disinterested or disengaged. Indirect engagement, such as participating in at-home discussions about program content and actioning program strategies, may also effectively engage non-attending fathers.

5.  Increase organisational support for father-inclusive practice

Father-inclusive practices and policies at the organisational level can be critical in increasing father engagement. Organisational support for father-inclusive practice has been found to be a key predictor of practitioner-reported father attendance rates,^{14, 26} with a lack of organisational support found to be a major barrier to father engagement.^{11, 26}

Supporting father-inclusive practice at the organisational level could involve:

• emphasising the importance of father attendance and tracking father engagement data²⁶
• promoting flexible service delivery models, such as online programs and after-work sessions that may counter barriers to attendance faced by fathers; and
• ensuring advertising is targeted towards fathers as well as mothers.

6.  Increase training on engaging fathers

Practitioners and organisations may benefit from father engagement training and professional development activities to increase father-inclusive practice.

Research has demonstrated that training in father engagement strategies is associated with enhanced practitioner confidence and skills, with some studies also linking training to increased rates of father engagement.^{1, 13, 24, 25}

Father-inclusive practice is likely to improve as a result of training targeted towards the following practitioner skills:

• Knowledge about the importance of fathers’ participation in programs for improving outcomes for children and families.
• Positive attitudes and beliefs about fathers.
• Self-reflection that assists practitioners to recognise the link between their own attitudes and behaviour.
• Skills to positively engage fathers; and
• Skills to promote father-inclusive practice within a practitioner’s team or organisation.^{6, 7, 8, 9, 13, 24, 25}

Future recommendations

Father engagement in parenting programs is an important topic that requires considerable further attention and research. Gathering adequate information about the rates of father participation in services will further strengthen and inform practice and policy recommendations for the future, ensuring parenting interventions are beneficial for both the parents and their children.

References

1. Burn, M., Tully, L.A., Jiang, Y. et al. (2019). Evaluating practitioner training to improve competencies and organizational practices for engaging fathers in parenting interventions. Child Psychiatry Human Development, 50, 230-244. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-018-0836-2
2. Campbell, C. A., Howard, D., Rayford, B. S., & Gordon, D. M. (2015). Fathers matter: Involving and engaging fathers in the child welfare system process. Children and Youth Services Review, 53, 84–91. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2015.03.020
3. Davison, K. K., Charles, J. N., Khandpur, N., & Nelson, T. J. (2016). Fathers’ perceived reasons for their underrepresentation in child health research and strategies to increase their involvement. Maternal and Child Health Journal, 21(2), 267–274. https://doi.org/10.1007/ s10995-016-2157-z
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