Clinical trial NCT03413709: Fathers' Support Center New Pathways to Responsible Fatherhood Family Formation Program (NPFF) Impact Evaluation Plan
Official title: New Pathways to Responsible Fatherhood Family Formation Program
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: UNKNOWN
Phase: NA
Conditions: Parenting
Keywords: Parenting Time, Father Involvement
Lead sponsor: Fathers' Support Center, St. Louis
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: Washington University School of Medicine
First posted: 2018-01-29
Enrollment: 700
Sex: MALE
Minimum age (years): 16
Standard ages: CHILD
ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: TREATMENT

Brief summary: The Fathers' Support Center, in partnership with the Brown School Evaluation Center at Washington University in St. Louis, seeks to evaluate the impact of their New Pathways to Responsible Fatherhood Family Formation Program (NPFF). The investigators are most interested in quantifying the added benefit of parenting, father-child engagement, and father well-being curriculum compared to course content containing 80 hour economic stability material only. The impact evaluation will answer four key outcome and implementation specific questions using a mixed methods approach. Participants will be randomly assigned to one of two groups (full program or 80 hour economic stability curriculum only) and tracked for the duration of the program. The impact evaluation tools include a set of validated instruments and will be administered to participants at baseline and again at three and twelve months after completion of the program. Performance measurement data will also be included in our analysis. Investigators hypothesize that participation in the full program will have a greater effect on key outcomes than the economic stability curriculum, a similar number of families will be reached by each condition, and that there will be minimal variability in retention rates across groups.

Detailed description: Research Questions

The Brown School Evaluation Center at Washington University in St. Louis will conduct the local impact evaluation. The local evaluation seeks to answer four primary questions pertaining to the implementation and outcomes of the Family Formation Program (FFP) (an integrated approach of responsible parenting, economic stability and mobility, and healthy relationships):

Outcome Q1: Does the participation of fathers in the comprehensive Family Formation Program have greater effect on family functioning, father and child outcomes, and father economic stability and mobility compared to fathers receiving the 80 hour economic stability services only (i.e., job readiness and employment skills)?

Implementation Q2: How many families were reached by each of the conditions and was there variability in retention rates of fathers across conditions?

Implementation Q3: Did fathers in the treatment and comparison conditions find the intervention to be acceptable and appropriate?

Implementation Q4: What barriers and benefits exist to successful implementation of father focused family support programs?

Background Fatherhood programs originally had a narrow focus on financial stability and support, but have recently evolved to also emphasize healthy relationships, parenting skills, and father involvement. Despite significant state and federal funding for fatherhood programs, few have undergone rigorous evaluation to examine their effectiveness. This evaluation will determine the added benefit of content on parenting, father-child engagement, and father well-being over and above content on economic stability and mobility, in relation to family functioning, child well-being, and economic stability. This will also further build the evidence supporting one particular comprehensive intervention, FFP, as a means to improve outcomes for children and families through intervening with fathers.

Relation to program logic model The primary research question of this impact evaluation will examine the effect of the FFP on short- and long-term outcomes as described in the FFP logic model

Short-term outcomes assessed by the impact evaluation will include:

1. improved parenting and co-parenting skills;
2. increased father-child engagement;
3. increased financial responsibility of fathers; and
4. progress towards greater economic stability.

The impact evaluation will also examine the FFP long-term outcomes of improved family functioning (through changes in father and child well-being; co-parenting relationship quality, and the father-child relationship) and increased economic stability and mobility.

Hypothesis:

Investigators believe that the FFP will have a greater effect on family functioning, father and child outcomes, and father economic stability compared to fathers in the comparison group because members of the treatment group will be receiving a more comprehensive range of services. Investigators anticipate that fathers will equally participate in both programs because both will provide meaningful information and opportunities to build their skill sets.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* being a father (biological or step) with at least one child 16 years old or younger

Exclusion Criteria:

* no presence of a restraining order from mother or child
* is not currently incarcerated
* is not homeless

Primary outcomes:
measure: Father Engagement-Father Research & Practice Network (FRPN) Father Engagement Scale
timeFrame: 1 year from program completion
measure: Father Child Contact-nForm Survey
timeFrame: 1 year from program completion
measure: Child Behavior and Emotion-Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL)
timeFrame: 1 year from program completion
measure: Parental Health-SF12v2 Health Survey
timeFrame: 1 year from program completion
measure: Parental Substance Abuse-Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT)
timeFrame: 1 year from program completion
measure: Parental Consequences related to Drug Abuse-Drug Abuse Screening Test 10 (DAST-10)
timeFrame: 1 year from program completion
measure: Parental Discipline Strategies/Behavior-Conflict Tactics Scale-Parent Child (CTSPC)
timeFrame: 1 year from program completion
measure: Co-parenting Relationships-FRPN: Coparenting Relationship Scale
timeFrame: 1 year after completion
measure: Child/Financial Support Behavior-FSC Intake Survey
timeFrame: 1 year after program completion
Secondary outcomes:
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Saint Louis
country: United States
facility: Fathers Support Center, St. Louis INC.
state: Missouri
Study officials:
affiliation: Washington University, Human Research Protection Office
name: Jonathan Green
role: STUDY_CHAIR
References:
citation: Kohl PL, Krauss MJ, King C, Cheng SY, Fowler P, Goodwin DN, Tillis CD, Sullivan H, Sorg A, Mueller NB. The impact of responsible fatherhood programs on parenting, psychological well-being, and financial outcomes: A randomized controlled trial. Fam Process. 2022 Sep;61(3):1097-1115. doi: 10.1111/famp.12752. Epub 2022 Jan 5.