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A significant proportion of African American (AA) fathers live in households apart from their young children. This living arrangement can have detrimental effects for children, families, and fathers. One hundred seventy-eight (n = 178) AA fathers, not residing with their 2-6-year-old children, were enrolled in a randomized trial to test the Building Bridges to Fatherhood (BBTF) program against a financial literacy comparison condition. BBTF is an intervention that was developed collaboratively with a fathers' advisory council of AA fathers who oversaw all aspects of program development. Based upon advisory council feedback, short video scenes captured fathers interacting with their children, their children's mothers, and other fathers. These video scenes were used to jump start the discussion around fatherhood, parenting, communication, and problem solving during the intervention group meetings. The actors in the video scenes were recruited from the community. Two trained group leaders, using a standardized group leader manual, delivered the intervention. The Money Smart Financial Literacy Program (MSFLP), which served as the comparator, was also delivered by AA men. Program satisfaction was high in both conditions. Even so recruitment and retention challenges influenced the ability to detect father and child outcomes. This study informs the participation of vulnerable urban AA fathers in community-based fatherhood intervention research and provides insight into bolstering engagement in studies focused on this population., (© 2021. The New York Academy of Medicine.)

Positive father involvement is critical to the healthy social, emotional, and academic outcomes of children at all stages of development. The purpose of this integrative review was to identify, categorize, and evaluate the potential impact of fatherhood interventions on father and child outcomes. A systematic search of four major research databases yielded 44 studies published between 1988 and 2018 that met study inclusion criteria. The most effective interventions were delivered in the community, with fathers convened in groups. Content focused on promoting positive parenting, co-parenting, and father/child relationships. Consequently, father involvement and child cognitive and socioemotional development were improved. Academic settings were underutilized in the fatherhood interventions in this review. We conclude that in order to optimize healthy child development, school officials must adopt a more inclusive stance toward the involvement of fathers in their children's education. Future randomized trials of fatherhood interventions delivered within school-based settings are warranted.

Many studies have examined factors influencing African-American (AA) participation in research studies. But none inform the recruitment of AA men into fatherhood intervention research. Our purpose is to describe the recruitment and enrollment framework of the Dedicated African American Dad (DAAD) Study, a randomized controlled trial (RCT) designed to test a fatherhood intervention against a financial literacy comparison condition. AA nonresident (AANR) fathers are fathers who do not reside with their child on a full-time basis. Fathers attended 10 group-based sessions; and father and mother informants completed research interviews at baseline, postintervention, and 12 weeks postintervention. The DAAD Study tripartite model is a system of strategies that address three factors that individually and cooperatively affect recruitment of AANR fathers into research: community partnerships; study infrastructure; and recruitment personnel. The intersection of these three components forms a recruitment nexus that can be used to guide community-based research. The DAAD study serves as an exemplar of recruitment challenges, strategies, and lessons learned., (© 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Purpose: African American (AA) fathers who live apart from their children face multiple obstacles to consistent and positive involvement with their children. Consequently, significant numbers of children are bereft of their father's positive involvement. Intervention research that is explicitly focused on promoting the positive involvement of non-resident AA fathers with their young children is limited. The purpose of this article is to describe the study protocol of a randomized trial (RCT) designed to test the Building Bridges to Fatherhood program against a financial literacy comparison condition; and discuss early implementation challenges., Methods: Fathers (n=180) are recruited to attend 10 group meetings, reimbursed for transportation, given dinner and activity vouchers for spending time with their child, and incentivized with a $40 gift card at each data collection time point. Mothers are incentivized ($40 gift card) at data collection and must be amenable to father child interaction. Intervention targets include father psychological well-being, parenting competence, communication, problem-solving ability; father-mother relationship quality; and child behavioral and emotional/social development., Results: To date, 57 fathers have been randomized to study condition. Recruitment has been influenced by father and mother hesitancy and the logistics of reaching and maintaining contact with participants. Strategies to surmount challenges to father and mother recruitment and engagement have been developed., Conclusions: The prospective benefits of positive father involvement to children, fathers and families outweigh the challenges associated with community-based intervention research. The findings from this RCT can inform the body of knowledge on engaging AA non-resident fathers in culturally relevant fatherhood programming., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Purpose: The goal of this study was to understand factors that predict mothers' decisions to participate as data informants in a randomized controlled trial of a fatherhood intervention for African-American non-resident fathers. Method: Baseline data from 178 fathers and 125 mothers in the Dedicated African American Dad (DAAD) study were examined. Prior research and theoretical frameworks by Feinberg and Morawska informed father variable selection. Data were analyzed via bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses. Results: Mothers were likely to participate as data informants when they had younger children, the father reported higher stress, less conflict with the mother, and the mothers' female relatives were less supportive of the father. Conclusion: Mothers' decisions to participate as data informants in a fatherhood intervention are shaped by a complex array of social, interpersonal and family relationships that impact co-parenting. More research is needed to explore maternal characteristics and additional factors that could influence maternal predictors of participation. Future intervention research with African American non-resident fathers should seek to capitalize on the importance of the co-parenting relationship, by intervening prenatally, bolstering social support, and including extended family and kin networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]