DadSpace: Increasing Community Support Resources for Perinatal Fathers

The project is aimed at meeting the support needs of community fathers who are expecting a baby or who have recently had a baby. This work is being conducted in conjunction with community partners through The Women's Clinic of Northern Colorado (WCNC). Researchers and WCNC staff will work together to develop and implement programs for prenatal and postpartum fathers. Participants will be invited to a group mentoring program and also will be provided access to supplementary educational podcasts focused on topics relevant to prenatal and postpartum fathers. The investigators are seeking to understand what participants like and don't like about the program and how participation in the program affects participants' stress, well-being, and parenting.

The investigators are building on previous work to identify opportunities to meet the needs of perinatal fathers. The term perinatal encompasses the time leading up to and immediately following the birth of a child. Father involvement in child rearing is beneficial to mothers and children, but fathers are routinely overlooked by available support opportunities at the transition to parenthood. This pilot project seeks to apply research evidence and best practices to address the disparity in socioemotional community support and education programs serving perinatal fathers. In a previous pilot study, the investigators learned from fathers participating in focus groups that participants were interested in opportunities to connect with other fathers in the same life stage to talk about personal experiences and learn from each other. The investigators also learned that fathers worry about meeting varied role expectations, that available resources tend to overlook the unique experiences of fathers, and that it can be challenging to find quality information in a digital world saturated with conflicting information about parenting. This project seeks to address these primary issues through community-based, father-centric support and educational programs. WCNC education staff will facilitate a discussion-based group mentoring program for fathers who are expecting or recently had a baby. This program seeks to increase connection with other fathers, reduce stress related to parenting a baby, and increase parenting confidence. The investigators plan to evaluate the feasibility of the program through satisfaction surveys and other measures of the program's implementation. The investigators also plan to evaluate the effectiveness of the program by providing participants with surveys asking about their well-being, knowledge, confidence in parenting, and their satisfaction with their social networks. The investigators are additionally developing educational podcasts focused on topics relevant to prenatal and postpartum fathers, which will be evaluated as a supplementary component to the mentoring program. Research objectives are the following: Study 1, Objective 1 (Primary): The investigators seek to determine the feasibility and acceptability of a program targeting perinatal fathers offered in a community clinic setting. Study 1, Objective 2 (Primary): Examine whether participating in a discussion-based group mentoring program increases the likelihood of positive short-term outcomes for fathers. Study 1 Objective 3 (Secondary): Identify whether listening to brief, targeted educational podcasts predicts increased positive outcomes for fathers over and above the mentoring group alone. Study 2 Objective 1 (Primary): Identify whether participants who listen to brief, targeted educational podcasts find the podcasts satisfactory and acceptable as a method of gaining information about perinatal fatherhood.

Eligibility Criteria:
Inclusion Criteria:

* Participants must be expecting a baby or have a baby less than one year of age and planning to take the DadSpace mentoring program.

Exclusion Criteria:

* Non-English speaking