Motivational Interviewing: Preparing People for Change

Background: Despite robust evidence of fathers’ impact on children and mothers, engaging with fathers is one of the least well-explored and articulated aspects of parenting interventions. It is therefore critical to evaluate implicit and explicit biases manifested in current approaches to research, intervention, and policy. Methods: We conducted a systematic database and a thematic hand search of the global literature on parenting interventions. Studies were selected from Medline, Psychinfo, SSCI, and Cochrane databases, and from gray literature on parenting programs, using multiple search terms for parent, father, intervention, and evaluation. We tabulated single programs and undertook systematic quality coding to review the evidence base in terms of the scope and nature of data reporting. Results: After screening 786 nonduplicate records, we identified 199 publications that presented evidence on father participation and impact in parenting interventions. With some notable exceptions, few interventions disaggregate ‘father’ or ‘couple’ effects in their evaluation, being mostly driven by a focus on the mother–child dyad. We identified seven key barriers to engaging fathers in parenting programs, pertaining to cultural, institutional, professional, operational, content, resource, and policy considerations in their design and delivery. Conclusions: Barriers to engaging men as parents work against father inclusion as well as father retention, and undervalue coparenting as contrasted with mothering. Robust evaluations of father participation and father impact on child or family outcomes are stymied by the ways in which parenting interventions are currently designed, delivered, and evaluated. Three key priorities are to engage fathers and coparenting couples successfully, to disaggregate process and impact data by fathers, mothers, and coparents, and to pay greater attention to issues of reach, sustainability, cost, equity, and scale-up. Clarity of purpose with respect to gender-differentiated and coparenting issues in the design, delivery, and evaluation of parenting programs will constitute a game change in this field. Keywords: Research design, coparent, father involvement, child development, violence, prevention, family.

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Practitioner Review: Engaging fathers – recommendations for a game change in parenting interventions based on a systematic review of the global evidence

(1976). Redesigning the Future: A Systems Approach to Societal Problems. Journal of the Operational Research Society: Vol. 27, Volume 27, issue 1, pp. 131-132.

Redesigning the Future: A Systems Approach to Societal Problems

Research on rural ageing: Where have we got to and where are we going in Europe?

Fathers as 'core business' in child welfare practice and research : an interdisciplinary review

It is widely recognized as problematic that there are generally low levels of engagement with child welfare services from biological and social fathers. The result can be limited resources for children's care and potentially poor risk assessment and management. This paper reviews the published research from 2000 to 2010 about the barriers to and facilitators of better father engagement, as well as the very limited evidence on the effectiveness of work with maltreating fathers. There is relatively little known about what works in engaging men, but there are some promising indicators from family support and child protection practice contexts. These include early identification and early involvement of fathers; a proactive approach, including an insistence on men's involvement with services; and the use of practical activities. In the light of what is known about the characteristics of maltreating fathers, there is a logical fit with cognitive-behavioural approaches. Although there is no direct evidence of the effectiveness of motivational interviewing in this context, its effectiveness in allied fields of practice would suggest that it may hold some promise for the initial engagement of fathers who pose a risk to children.

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Engaging fathers in child welfare services: a narrative review of recent research evidence

Results of a training course for social workers on engaging fathers in child protection

It is widely recognised that, in a child protection context, practitioners tend to focus on working with mothers more than fathers This may undermine risk management and limit the resources available for the care of children This paper discusses the process of developing and running a training intervention for child protection social workers, designed to improve father engagement (with ‘fathers’ defined inclusively) A short course was provided, consisting of one day of awareness-raising about the importance of work with fathers and one day of motivational interviewing skills training The emphasis in the paper is on insights from the qualitative elements of the mixed-method process evaluation, namely, observation and pre- and post-course interviews In particular, there is discussion of the potential benefits and challenges of this kind of training, with consideration given to the general issue of father engagement and more specifically the potential for using motivational interviewing in child protection practice

The Benefits and Challenges of Training Child Protection Social Workers in Father Engagement

Despite traditionally having low numbers of doctoral students, social work research is currently undergoing expansion at doctoral level. Professional doctorates are starting up, which are highly applied to practice and include modules as well as a thesis, and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) has now recognized social work as a separate discipline for doctoral training. The aims of this research project were to identify who these social work doctoral students are, what they are researching and what their experience is of doctoral study. Quantitative and qualitative data were generated via a web-based survey of social work doctoral students across the UK—those on professional doctorates as well as Ph.D.s and those engaged in full-time and part-time study. The data were subject to bivariate analysis. There was also a search conducted of the Index to Theses for doctoral theses on social work topics over a ten-year period. Findings from both elements of the research are presented in relation to student demographics, employment and funding, type of doctorate, methodology and student satisfaction.

Nina Maxwell

Papers

Engaging fathers in child welfare services: a narrative review of recent research evidence

Results of a training course for social workers on engaging fathers in child protection

The Benefits and Challenges of Training Child Protection Social Workers in Father Engagement

Social Work Doctoral Students in the UK: A Web-Based Survey and Search of the Index to Theses

Independent evaluation of the Frontline pilot: Research report