Increasing Fathers’ Involvement in Child Care With a Couple‐Focused Intervention During the Transition to Parenthood

Keywords

family life education, father involvement, program evaluation, transition to parenthood

Abstract

In this article, we report the results of an evaluation study of a program for couples during the transition to parenthood on father involvement in child care. One‐hundred‐twenty couples were assigned to 1 of the 3 groups: a treatment group that received the Welcome Baby new‐parent, home‐visiting program focused on infant development and health, supplemented with the self‐guided Marriage Moments program focused on strengthening couple relationships; a comparison group that received just the Welcome Baby program; or a control group. The study revealed that the treatment group fathers were more involved in child care than control group fathers, and this finding was replicated in a second evaluation study. Family life educators must be open to the possibility that they may miss a primary intervention target, yet hit a secondary one.

Original Publication Citation

Hawkins, A. J., Lovejoy, K. R., Holmes, E. K., Blanchard, V. L., & Fawcett, E. B. (2008). Increasing fathers’ involvement in childcare with a couple-focused intervention during the transition to parenthood. Family Relations, 57, 49-59.

Document Type

Peer-Reviewed Article

Publication Date

2008-01-02

Permanent URL

http://hdl.lib.byu.edu/1877/7034

Publisher

Family Relations

Language

English

College

Family, Home, and Social Sciences

Department

Family Life

University Standing at Time of Publication

Full Professor

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