Abstract
Fathers are consistently underrepresented in parenting interventions and practitioners are an important target for change in interventions to enhance father engagement. This research examined the effects of two practitioner training programs in improving practitioner rated competencies and organizational father-inclusive practices. Two studies were conducted, each with a single group, repeated measures (pre, post and 2-month follow-up) design. Study 1 (N = 233) examined the outcomes of face-to-face training in improving practitioner ratings of competencies in engaging fathers, perceived effectiveness and use of father engagement strategies, organizational practices and rates of father engagement. Study 2 (N = 356) examined online training using the same outcome measures. Practitioners in both training formats improved in their competencies, organizational practices and rates of father engagement over time, yet those in the online format deteriorated in three competencies from post-training to follow-up. The implications for delivering practitioner training programs to enhance competencies and rates of father engagement are discussed.
Highlights
Fathers play a vital role in the development and wellbeing of children
Planned comparisons revealed that follow-up scores were significantly higher than pretraining scores for competence (t = 0.65, p < 0.001), confidence (t = 0.67, p < 0.001) and perceived effectiveness (t = 0.55, p < 0.001), and there were no significant differences between post-training and follow-up scores
This indicates that improvements in practitioner ratings on these measures at post-training were maintained at follow-up
Summary
Fathers play a vital role in the development and wellbeing of children. There is significant evidence demonstrating the unique contribution of fathers to child outcomes, both positive and negative [1]. Parenting interventions, which aim to improve the quality and consistency of parenting, are well established as effective for improving child outcomes. Fathers are consistently underrepresented in parenting interventions [2], despite research demonstrating that father involvement (along with mothers) improves outcomes for parenting and child externalizing behaviors [3]. While there are many reasons for the low rates of father participation—often related to broad socio-ecological issues impacting fatherhood—research has identified certain practitioner and organizational factors that may play a role, including low levels of practitioner competencies in engaging fathers and low rates of organizational support for father-inclusive practice [4]. Few practitioners report having participated in training programs focused on enhancing skills for engaging fathers [4], yet training is associated with improved practitioner competencies [4,5,6], and
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