3. CURRICULUM BASED ON
THEORY AND EVIDENCE
THERE ARE 5 DOMAINS OF FAMILY
LIFE THAT AFFECT FAMILY
MEMBERS’ WELL-BEING
OUR CURRICULUM ADDRESSES ALL
5 ASPECTS OF FAMILY LIFE (It’s not
just a parenting class or
communication skills training.)
4. 1. PARENTS AS INDIVIDUALS
2. The COUPLE RELATIONSHIP
3. PARENT-CHILD
RELATIONSHIPS
4. FAMILY OF ORIGIN PATTERNS
5. STRESSORS and SUPPORTS
5. FAMILY SYSTEMS PERSPECTIVE MISSING
Culture
Economic forces
Work Friends
Social support Social support
and Life Stress and Life Stress
Peers
School
6. Supporting Father Involvement
Development and Evaluation Team
Philip Cowan and Carolyn Pape Cowan,
University of California, Berkeley
Marsha Kline Pruett, Smith College
Kyle Pruett, Yale University
Peter Gillette, University of California Berkeley
Data Manager
7. SUPPORTING FATHER INVOLVEMENT
Random Assignment to:
Informational 16 week 16 week
session* Fathers Couples
groups* groups*
*A Case Manager for every study family
Bi-monthly consultation for site staff
• Pre-intervention (baseline) assessments
• Post-intervention assessments 9 months after baseline
• Follow-up assessments 18 months after baseline
8. Participants
Supporting Father Involvement
PHASE I
289 families completed pre and posttests
67% Mexican American (an African American
sample added later)
75% married
20% cohabiting
5% not living together
9. Results (2-1/2 yr followup)
PARENTS FROM CONTROL GROUP
One 3-hour group meeting
• Stayed the same or got worse over time
(no change in father involvement, couple
satisfaction down, symptoms up)
• Reported more behavior problems in their
children than they had on entering study.
10. PARENTS FROM FATHERS AND
COUPLES GROUPS
Met weekly for 16 weeks/32 hrs
• Mothers and fathers reported more
father involvement in caring for children.
• Parents reported no change in child
behavior problems since entry to project.
11. PARENTS FROM COUPLES GROUPS
Showed additional benefits:
• Their parenting stress declined
• They showed no decline in couple
relationship satisfaction – which we
found in couples in both the control
group and the fathers groups.
12. Positive Benefits Endure Over
Time
Baseline 9 months 18 months 2.5 years
2 months 11 months 22 months
after groups end after groups end after groups end
13. These intervention results have now
been replicated with another 280
low-income families – Hispanic and
Caucasian – and more recently at a
site with 40 African American
families.
14. Dissemination throughout
California by Strategies
Danny Molina (and others)
www.SupportingFatherInvolvement.org/strategies
• Information
• Agency father-friendliness
• Technical assistance to run SFI
groups
15. NEW PHASE IV
50% CWS FAMILIES
-- referred by Child Welfare staff
-- couples assessed as safe to work with
together; child not being abused now
50% NON-CWS FAMILIES
-- recruited as in previous phases
16. Random assignment to:
COUPLES FATHERS
GROUP (2/3) GROUP (1/3)
NOW(2/3) DELAY(1/3) NOW(2/3) DELAY(1/3)
Intervention effect? Intervention effect?
17. CAUTIONARY NOTE
• Only first third of families = 100/300
• Only to first posttest (intervention results
often better at second posttest)
• Almost all data from couples groups (90
vs 10)
• No data on some important measures
(Child Abuse Potential, Danger
Assessment)
36. COMPARISON OF NOW AND DELAY
Non-CWS CWS
INDIVIDUAL
Anxiety √
Drug use √√ √√
Alcohol use √ √
COUPLE
Conflict √√
Violent Prob √√
Solving
Collaborative Prob. √√
Solving
37. COMPARISON OF NOW AND DELAY
Non-CWS CWS
PARENTING
Father √
involvement
Harsh parenting √√ √√
CHILD
Hyperactivity √√
Anxiety/depression √√
