TRUE Dads: Evaluation of an Intervention Focusing on Father Involvement, Co-parenting, and Employment

NCT03069898 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: 2016-08-9047
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 2,084
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

With an emphasis on 12 3-hour group workshops, the TRUE Dads fatherhood intervention program focuses on establishing or strengthening three of men's key roles in the family: 1) their role as providers, through fostering employment and economic self-sufficiency, 2) their role as fathers, in building and maintaining positive engagement with their children, and 3) their role in having and keeping a positive relationship with their co-parenting partner (wife, intimate partner, or other co-parent). The study is a randomized clinical trial that compares participants in a program track with participants a study track (no treatment control group) over a one-year period.

Conditions

Father-Child Relations

Keywords

Marital relationship

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (5)

• Father/Co-parent relationship quality

  This outcome will be measured by a composite of self-report survey items filled out by fathers and co-parents, assessing perceptions of co-parent relationship quality, communication and conflict management abilities. High scores indicate relationship distress.

  Change or maintenance of positive behavior relative to the control group will be assessed at Baseline and 1 year post Baseline.

• Father involvement

  This outcome will be measured by a composite of self-report survey items filled out by both fathers and co-parents, assessing fathers' involvement in childcare tasks, time spent in specific activities with target child, parenting styles, and parenting behaviors. High scores indicate positive father involvement

  Change or maintenance of positive behavior relative to the control group will be assessed at Baseline and 1 year post Baseline.

• Child well-being

  This outcome will be measured by a composite of self-report survey items filled out by fathers and co-parents, assessing child temperament, externalizing behavior problems (aggression, hyperactivity) and internalizing behavior problems (anxiety, depression, shy/withdrawn behavior). High scores indicate more behavior problems.

  Change or maintenance of positive behavior relative to the control group will be assessed at Baseline and 1 year post Baseline.

• Economic Self-sufficiency

  This outcome will be measured by a composite of self-report survey items filled out by fathers and co-parents, assessing employment status, income, behaviors to find a job or acquire new job skills. High scores indicate more positive economic achievements and more positive attitudes

  Change or maintenance of positive behavior relative to the control group will be assessed at Baseline and 1 year post Baseline.

• Parents adjustment and distress

  This outcome will be measured by a composite of self-report measures of symptoms of depression (Center for Epidemiological Studies in Depression, CES-D) and anxiety (from the Brief Symptom Inventory). High scores indicate personal distress.

  change or maintenance of positive behavior relative to the control group will be assessed at Baseline and 1 year post Baseline.

Study Arms (2)

TRUE Dads program track

EXPERIMENTAL

In the TRUE Dads program, fathers and co-parents begin with a Core workshop meeting weekly for 6 weeks. After a check-in, a male-female group leader team focuses on a single topic that represents one of the three main goals of the project as a whole: Co-parenting relationships, Parenting, or Employment and financial stability. From 10 to 18 couples, seated at small tables in a large room, hear mini-lectures, watch videos, and engage in interactive exercises. Fathers then choose to attend one of three intensive workshops focused on couple relationships OR parenting OR economic self-sufficiency meeting 3 hours per week for the next 6 weeks. On an as-needed basis, fathers may be referred for employment programs and fathers and co-parents may be referred for mental health or other services.

Behavioral: TRUE Dads

Control condition study track

NO INTERVENTION

Participants (fathers and co-parents) complete intake interview and fill out Baseline survey. They fill out follow-up survey one year later

Interventions

TRUE Dads BEHAVIORAL

The TRUE Dads intervention consists of a set of 12 3-hour workshops that focus on enhancing fathers' role as co-parent, parent, and provider

TRUE Dads program track

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years+
• Gender Eligibility Details: The primary focus of the study is on fatherhood, so the entrance to the study begins with fathers. But each father must bring the primary person with whom he is co-parenting his child -- wife, romantic partner, friend, mother. Usually the co-parent is a woman, but occasionally a man (father's father, intimate partner).
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• This study begins with a focus on fathers. We are initially recruiting men who:
• Are 18 or older
• Are residing in Oklahoma County/Metro
• Are expecting a child or already have a child age (0-12), with an emphasis on 0-6,
• Have spent time with the child the prior month (or with mother if expecting)
• Are English-speaking. Have not previously participated in the Family Expectations program offered by Public Strategies (Oklahoma) in the last 3 years

You may not qualify if:

• Because this an intervention for fathers that attempts to improve the relationship with the fathers' co-parent, we are accepting fathers only if the co-parent agrees to attend at least the first 6 workshops. In pilot trials, almost all the co-parents are women (wives, intimate partners, grandmothers), but a few are men (the fathers' father, brother, intimate partner)
• Either or both partners have taken part in the Family Expectations project during the past three years, located in the same building, run by Public Strategies

Sponsors & Collaborators

• It's My Community Initiative: lead

Study Sites (1)

It's My Community Initiative

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, 73104, United States

Location

Related Publications (1)

• Cowan PA, Cowan CP, Gillette PF. TRUE Dads: The impact of a couples-based fatherhood intervention on family relationships, child outcomes, and economic self-sufficiency. Fam Process. 2022 Sep;61(3):1021-1044. doi: 10.1111/famp.12748. Epub 2022 Jan 10.

  PMID: 35014030 DERIVED

Study Officials

• Philip A. Cowan, PhD

  It's My Community Initiative

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: PREVENTION
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Professor of Psychology Emeritus, University of California, Berkeley

Model Details: Paraticipants are randomly assigned to intervention (TRUE Dads) and Control tracks, assessed at Baseline and again one year later. The intervention primarily involves attendance at 12 3-hour workshops for fathers and their co-parents.

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: February 28, 2017
• First Posted: March 3, 2017
• Study Start: July 1, 2017
• Primary Completion: June 30, 2020
• Study Completion: June 30, 2020
• Last Updated: August 26, 2020

Record last verified: 2020-08

Locations

US (1)