Clinical trial NCT05311592: Supporting Responsible Fatherhood Program (Fatherhood FIRE)
Official title: Montefiore Medical Center Supporting Responsible Fatherhood Program
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING
Phase: NA
Conditions: Parenting
Family Relations
Father-Child Relations
Lead sponsor: Montefiore Medical Center
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: Children's Bureau - Administration for Children and Families
name: BronxWorks
First posted: 2022-04-05
Enrollment: 1475
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Intervention model description: The investigator will run workshops virtually, through Zoom, and in person. Participants will be randomized either to the virtual condition, or to the in person condition.

Update: Effective 1/1/2025 randomization ceased and from that date onward data participants were able to choose which arm they partook in.
Primary purpose: HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH

Brief summary: Montefiore Medical Center (in partnership with BronxWorks) is implementing a large-scope program to promote responsible fatherhood in the Bronx among low-income adult (18 years or older) fathers with non-custodial children (under the age of 24). The program, called HERO Dads (Healthy, Empowered, Resilient, Open Dads), will promote responsible fatherhood by enhancing relationship and anger-management skills and providing marriage education; providing skills-based parenting education, disseminating information about good parenting practices, and encouraging child support payments (in partnership with our local OCSE); and fostering economic stability by providing employment-related supports inclusive of job search, vocational skills training, job referrals, and job retention.

Detailed description: The program model is based on the premise that relationship and parenting skills can be taught, and will lead to improvements in relationships (knowledge about relationships, communication skills, stress management, reduction in destructive conflict), parenting (knowledge about child development, engagement with non-custodial children, effective parenting, co-parent communication, child well-being), and economic status (vocational skills, new employment or career advancement, financial literacy, child support). The investigator will provide core relationship and relationship education workshops using an empirically supported curriculum (24/7 Dad) plus employment workshops, numerous supplemental activities to promote responsible fatherhood, individualized vocational case management, and job-driven employment services. In total, the investigator expects to enroll 1,475 non-custodial fathers in the program and provide an average of 34 hours of total programming per participant (including 24 hours of core workshops), which the investigator believes is a sufficient dosage to detect impacts.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Must be over 18 years of age
* Must have a child under the age of 24
* Must be a non-custodial parent or have shared custody
* Income below 200% poverty line

Exclusion Criteria:

* Active intimate partner violence and increased risk of intimate partner violence.

Primary outcomes:
measure: Inventory of Father Involvement (IFI) (Father Involvement)
timeFrame: Baseline
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Information, Family Outcomes, Reporting, and Management (nFORM) Applicant Characteristics
timeFrame: Baseline
measure: Information, Family Outcomes, Reporting, and Management (nFORM) Pre-Program Survey
timeFrame: At start of intervention (Week 1 of 4)
measure: Information, Family Outcomes, Reporting, and Management (nFORM) Post-Program Survey
timeFrame: Immediately post intervention (Week 4 of 4 weeks)
measure: Child-Parent Relationship Scale Short Form (CPRS-SF) (Parent-Child Relationship Quality)
timeFrame: Baseline
measure: Skills/Knowledge Assessment (Skills/Knowledge Acquisition)
timeFrame: Change from Baseline Skills at immediately post intervention and at 6 months
measure: Assessing Emotions Scale (Emotional Intelligence)
timeFrame: Baseline
measure: Childhood Trauma Questionnaire Short Form (CTQ-SF) (Childhood Trauma)
timeFrame: Baseline
measure: Parenting Alliance Inventory (PAI) (Quality of Co-Parenting Relationship)
timeFrame: Baseline
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Bronx
country: United States
facility: Montefiore Medical Center
state: New York
Study officials:
affiliation: Montefiore Medical Center
name: Scott Wetzler, PhD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References: