Parenting Skills Programs

Report

Final Report on the Strengthening the Implementation of Responsible Fatherhood Programs (SIRF) Study

May, 2023

This report summarizes activities in a study designed to build evidence on promising strategies to improve enrollment and participation in fatherhood programs. Participating programs iteratively implemented and assessed three approaches to addressing implementation challenges—outreach, peer mentoring, and coaching—and the use of rapid learning cycles to implement those approaches.

Brief

Customer Journey Mapping as a Tool to Identify Barriers to Program Participation

July, 2022

To identify ways to bolster participation in fatherhood programs, the Strengthening the Implementation of Responsible Fatherhood Programs project used “customer journey mapping,” a process that focuses on the needs and goals of participants. This document describes and illustrates each of five steps in the mapping process.

Brief
March, 2022

In 2020, MDRC and its partners conducted a literature review and held a series of conversations on the subject of engaging fathers in fatherhood programs that included practitioners, fathers, researchers, policymakers, and other stakeholders. This publication collects engagement approaches practitioners and other stakeholders have tried or are considering.

Report

An Introduction to the Strengthening the Implementation of Responsible Fatherhood Programs (SIRF) Study

March, 2022

This report summarizes activities in the first two years of the Strengthening the Implementation of Responsible Fatherhood Programs (SIRF) study (2019 to 2021). SIRF aims to identify and test approaches to improving programs’ recruitment, engagement, and retention of fathers using rapid learning cycles.

Brief

A Roundup of Findings from the Building Bridges and Bonds Study

September, 2021

The Building Bridges and Bonds (B3) study tested innovative, interactive, skill-building approaches to address parenting and economic stability in the context of existing fatherhood programs. This brief highlights findings from the three tests and summarizes lessons from the B3 study experience common to all the tested interventions.

Report

Findings from the B3 Study of the Just Beginning Parenting Intervention

September, 2021
Michelle S. Manno, Kristen Harknett, Bright Sarfo, Ann Bickerton

The Just Beginning intervention aims to improve the quality of interactions between fathers with low incomes and their young children. As implemented in this evaluation, the intervention did not produce statistically significant effects on measures of father-child relationship quality, on fathers’ parenting confidence, nor on levels of father-child contact.

Working Paper

Video Observations from the Just Beginning Study

September, 2021
Kristen Harknett, Patrizia Mancini, Virginia Knox

The Just Beginning intervention aims to improve the quality of interactions between fathers with low incomes and their young children. Fathers participated in up to five sessions with their young children. This paper uses growth curve models to estimate patterns of change across the five sessions.

Report

Findings from the B3 Study of a Cognitive Behavioral Program

September, 2021
Emily Brennan, Bret Barden, Sam Elkin, Ann Bickerton

This report presents findings from a random assignment evaluation of a program incorporating interactive cognitive-behavioral techniques with job-readiness services for fathers recently involved in the justice system. As implemented in this evaluation, the program did not produce impacts on employment, involvement in the criminal justice system, or parenting.

Brief

A Review of the Literature

September, 2021

When a parent is jailed or incarcerated, it has direct consequences for children and families. Family-strengthening programs seek to maintain healthy relationships between such parents and their children. They have the potential to reduce the harmful effects of incarceration on families. This brief describes six recommendations for family-strengthening programs.

Pages