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Supporting Father Involvement (SFI)

Scientific Rating:
2
Supported by Research Evidence
See scale of 1-5
Child Welfare Relevance Level:
Medium

See descriptions of 3 levels

Brief Description

The information in this program outline is provided by the program representative and edited by the CEBC staff. The Supporting Father Involvement (SFI) program has been rated by the CEBC in the areas of: Motivation and Engagement and Father Involvement Interventions.

  • Types of Maltreatment: Does not target any specific kind of maltreatment
  • Target Population: Primarily low-income families.

SFI is a preventive intervention designed to enhance fathers’ positive involvement with their children. The curriculum is based on an empirically-validated family risk model. This model predicts that children’s development is predicted by risks and buffers in five interconnected domains:

  • family members’ characteristics
  • 3-generational expectations and relationship patterns
  • quality of parent-child relationship
  • quality of parents’ relationship
  • balance of stressors versus social support for the family.

The curriculum highlights the potential contributions fathers make to the family. The program is aimed at strengthening fathers’ involvement in the family, promoting healthy child development, and preventing key factors implicated in child abuse.

Essential Components

  • The curriculum targets 5 aspects of family life for intervention to enhance fathers’ involvement:
    1. both partners’ individual well-being
    2. the quality of the relationship between the parents
    3. the quality of relationship between parent and child
    4. breaking negative cycles across generations
    5. coping with life stress and enhancing social support
  • Group structure follows a curriculum but includes open-ended discussion of personal and family issues. This is not a skills training program that teaches participants that there is only one correct way to be a family.
  • Leaders are trained mental health professionals, ideally license eligible.
  • Cultural sensitivity is maintained in intervention approach, language, and curriculum materials.
  • Meetings are held at dinnertime to meet schedules of working families. Food provided.
  • Childcare is provided.
  • Case management is provided for all families.

Child Component

Supporting Father Involvement (SFI) was designed with a child component that addresses the following presenting problems and symptoms:

  • Children of fathers with parent-child, couple, or three-generational relationships.

Age range: 0 – 11

Developmental Delays:

This program was not developed for children with developmental delays, and has not been tested for children with developmental delays.

Parent / Caregiver Component

Supporting Father Involvement (SFI) was designed with a parent/caregiver component that addresses the following presenting problems and symptoms:

  • Problems in parent-child, couple, and three-generational relationships.

Group Format

Supporting Father Involvement (SFI) was designed to be conducted in a group setting, and has been tested for use in a group setting.

Recommended group size:

Recommended for groups of 4-8 couples or 10-12 fathers, with two leaders.

Testing References:

Cowan, C. P., Cowan, P. A., Pruett, M. K., & Pruett, K. (2007). An approach to preventing coparenting conflict and divorce in low-income families: Strengthening couple relationships and fostering fathers' involvement. Family Process, 46(1), 109-121.

Delivery Settings

This program is typically conducted in a(n):

  • Community Agency
  • School

Homework

Supporting Father Involvement (SFI) includes a homework component:

Follow-ups on the exercises and discussions in each group.

Languages

Supporting Father Involvement (SFI) does not have materials available in a language other than English.

Resources Needed to Run Program

The typical resources for implementing the program are:

Meeting room space adequate for groups of 10-18 adult participants and leaders. Additional space for providing childcare has been very much appreciated by staff and parents.

Minimum Provider Qualifications

Group leaders need clinical training at the Master's Level or equivalent – licensed or license-eligible. Supervisors must be licensed mental health professionals.

Education and Training Resources

There is a manual that describes how to implement this program, and there is training available for this program.

Training Contact:
  • Danny Molina, SFI Project Manager
    Strategies

    phone: (805) 485-6114 x679
Training is obtained:

Information consultation currently available.

Strategies offers consultation and technical assistance in helping agencies to become more father friendly and in conducting fathers or couples group interventions in the model. Contact Danny (info above)

Number of days/hours:

Informal consultation currently available.

Implementation Information

Since Supporting Father Involvement (SFI) is highly rated on the Scientific Rating Scale, information was requested from the program representative on available pre-implementation assessments, implementation tools, and/or fidelity measures.

Show implementation information...

Pre-Implementation Assessments

To be given to organizations or providers in order to measure organizational or individual readiness:

The Supporting Father Involvement (SFI) organization uses an Organizational Self-Assessment Scale that they adapted from the original version by The National Center for Strategic Nonprofit Planning and Community Leadership (NPCL), in partnership with the National Head Start Association (NHSA), the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families, Region V, and the Illinois Department of Public Aid, Division of Child Support Enforcement. For more information about the original version, contact:

  • Nigel Vann
    NPCL's Director of Partnership Development
    phone: (202) 822-6725
  • JoAnn Nelson-Hooks
    NHSA's Fatherhood Coordinator
    phone: (703) 739-7560

SFI's Modification is available online for agencies participating at SFI level 2. For access to the scale offline, please contact:

  • Danny Molina, SFI Project Manager
    email: dmolina@icfs.org
    phone: (805) 485-6114 x679.

Implementation Tools — for the program (e.g., implementation guides or manuals)

There are two manuals for Group Leaders, one for the 16-week fathers group program and one for the 16-week couples group program. Each curriculum contains a week-by-week outline of topics to be discussed and suggested exercises to elicit discussion. The curricula can be obtained by family agency directors, clinical directors, or the equivalent, but not by private practitioners or individual clinicians within agencies. The curriculum is also available to researchers. To get the curricula, please contact:

Fidelity Measures

SFI's organization does not have measures of fidelity, but the program does have three procedures in place to ensure model fidelity. First, see the link on the bottom of the page for a set of principles that define the essential ingredients of the intervention model. Second, the group leaders at the site implementing SFI fill out group logs each week that describe the topics discussed. This helps to assure that the leaders are following the curriculum. Third, one of the core Principal Investigators of the project conducts a bi-monthly hour-long telephone consultation conference call with all of the group leaders from the 5 sites of the project. This call helps leaders from multiple sites to problem solve in ways that maintains the fidelity of the curriculum across sites. New single-site implementations with some ongoing technical support may be arranged by contacting Strategies.

Supporting Father Involvement's Ten Central Dimensions of Model Fidelity

1. Curriculum and group sessions

  • Philosophy that follows the Supporting Father Involvement comprehensive interactive approach to conducting groups
  • Content involves more than couple relationship or parenting skills (5 aspects of family life)
  • Male-female group leader teams
  • Initial interview by group leaders of each participating couple (co-parents)
  • Structure of sessions (open-ended + structure)
  • Enrollment set at the beginning, no rolling enrollment or "drop ins"
  • Group size 8-10 couples max
  • Number of sessions (hours) 32 hour minimum

2. Target population

  • SFI sites screen potential clients and refer out participants with some high risk characteristics (e.g. severe mental illness, substance abuse, recent or ongoing violence)

3. Training of Group Leaders

  • Clinical training or equivalent, group experience necessary
  • MFT students with group experience and ongoing supervision is an alternative to fully licensed leaders
  • Interns paired with more experienced (license eligible) group leaders is also an alternative

4. Supervision of group leaders

  • Especially at the beginning of the project, ongoing TA and clinical supervision must be available for the group leaders

5. Case Managers

  • In the SFI project, Case Managers have three major tasks: (1) assessment interviews at baseline and follow-ups; (2) maintaining involvement of clients; and (3) brief clinical contact and referral for other services

6. Institutional atmosphere

  • Focus on father friendliness within agency

7. Evaluation Component

  • Gathering of systematic information is a requirement of participation in the project.

8. Child care (personnel, space)

  • Having childcare for parents attending meetings provides benefits for children, each parent, and the couple

9. Food during meetings

  • Depending on the meeting time, this may be essential

10. Characteristics of agencies necessary to mount successful program

  • Commitment to the project at all levels from Director to line staff
  • Open and effective communication among staff members
  • A collaborative spirit in the staff
  • Willingness to think outside the box to develop new strategies to support a new, preventive intervention

Relevant Published, Peer-Reviewed Research

This program is rated a "2 - Supported by Research Evidence" on the Scientific Rating Scale based on the published, peer-reviewed research available. The practice must have at least one rigorous randomized controlled trial with a sustained effect of at least 6 months. Please see the Scientific Rating Scale for more information.

Child Welfare Outcome: Child/Family Well-Being

Cowan, P.A., Cowan, C. P., Pruett, M. K., & Pruett, K. D., & Wong, J. (2009). Promoting fathers' engagement with children: Preventive interventions for low-income families. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 71, 663-679.

Type of Study: Randomized controlled trial
Number of Participants: 371 couples

Population:

  • Age range — Families with children 0-7 years
  • Race/Ethnicity — 67% Mexican American, 27% European American, 6% other.
  • Gender — Not Specified
  • Status — Families recruited through Family Resource Centers, other county service agencies and community events.

Location / Institution: California

Summary: (To include comparison groups, outcomes, measures, notable limitations)
Families were recruited to participate in an intervention aimed at improving father engagement in childrearing. Recruited families were excluded if screening suggested mental illness, drug or alcohol abuse problems, or if they were currently involved in an open case with Child Protective Services. Participants were randomly assigned to a 16-week fathers’ group, a 16-week couples group, or a comparison group that only attended a single informational meeting. All participating families also had access to a case manager, who could make needed referrals to services and follow-up with regard to attendance at training sessions. Measures developed by the authors included a self-reported estimate of father-child relationship and parents’ self-ratings of division of labor in childcare. Parents also completed the Parenting Stress Inventory (PSI), the Ideas About Parenting Questionnaire, and the Quality of Marriage Index. Children’s behavior problems were assessed with the Child Adaptive Behavior Inventory. Results showed that parents in the 16-week group training conditions reported more stable perceptions of children’s problem behaviors and those in the couples groups reported more stable levels of relationship satisfaction. No effects were found for parenting attitudes. Limitations include self-report measures and use of a screened convenience sample.

Length of post-intervention follow-up: 11 months after group interventions, 18 months after single session.

References

Show references...

Cowan, C. P., Cowan, P. A., Pruett, M. K., & Pruett, K. (2005). Encouraging strong relationships between fathers and children. Working Strategies, 8(4), 1-11.

Cowan, C. P., Cowan, P. A., Pruett, M. K., & Pruett, K. (2007). An approach to preventing coparenting conflict and divorce in low-income families: Strengthening couple relationships and fostering fathers' involvement. Family Process, 46(1), 109-121.

Cowan, P. A., Cowan, C. P., Cohen, N., Pruett, M. K., & Pruett, K. (2008). Supporting fathers' engagement with their kids. In J. D. Berrick & N. Gilbert (Eds.), Raising children: Emerging needs, modern risks, and social responses (pp. 44-80). New York: Oxford University Press.

Pruett, M. K., Cowan, C. P., Cowan, P. A., & Pruett, K. (2009). Lessons learned from the Supporting Father Involvement study: A cross-cultural preventive intervention for low-income families with young children. Journal of Social Service Research, 35(2), 163-179.

Pruett, M. K., Cowan, C. P., Cowan, P. A., & Pruett, K. (2009). Fathers as resources in families involved in the child welfare system. Protecting Children, 24, 52-65.

Contact Information

Name: Philip A. Cowan
Agency/Affiliation: University of California, Berkeley
Website: www.supportingfatherinvolvement.org
Email:
Phone: (510) 643-5608
Fax: (510) 526-5745

Date Reviewed: March 2011 (originally reviewed in June 2008)