Father Involvement Content in Parent Education Programs in BC

1. Father Involvement Content in Parent Education Programs in BC Denise Hodgins, M.Ed., Ph.D. (student) School of Child & Youth Care www.cyc.uvic.cadhodgins@uvic.ca

2. Research Study Overview • Content analysis of formal parent education programs in BC

3. Research Study Overview • Content analysis of formal parent education programs in BC • Not an evaluation of programs

4. Research Study Overview • Content analysis of formal parent education programs in BC • Not an evaluation of programs • Not an observation of programs

5. Research Study Overview • Content analysis of formal parent education programs in BC • Not an evaluation of programs • Not an observation of programs • Not an account of father participation

6. Research Study Overview • Content analysis of formal parent education programs in BC • Not an evaluation of programs • Not an observation of programs • Not an account of father participation • Conducted in 2007

7. Research Study Overview • Content analysis of formal parent education programs in BC • Not an evaluation of programs • Not an observation of programs • Not an account of father participation • Conducted in 2007 • Interviewed directors

8. Research Study Overview • Content analysis of formal parent education programs in BC • Not an evaluation of programs • Not an observation of programs • Not an account of father participation • Conducted in 2007 • Interviewed directors • Analyzed program materials

9. Research Questions • Is father involvement included in the program content? If so, what does the content include?

10. Research Questions • Is father involvement included in the program content? If so, what does the content include? • How is father involvement defined and described in the program content?

11. Research Questions • Is father involvement included in the program content? If so, what does the content include? • How is father involvement defined and described in the program content? • What approach to father involvement is taken in the program content?

12. Research Questions • Is father involvement included in the program content? If so, what does the content include? • How is father involvement defined and described in the program content? • What approach to father involvement is taken in the program content? • What factors, if any, are included in the program content that address what contributes to and/or deters the involvement of fathers?

13. Program Criteria • offered in BC at the time of my study;

14. Program Criteria • offered in BC at the time of my study; • designed for parents of young children, between the ages of zero and six;

15. Program Criteria • offered in BC at the time of my study; • designed for parents of young children, between the ages of zero and six; • formal education programs rather than drop-in or informal support services;

16. Program Criteria • offered in BC at the time of my study; • designed for parents of young children, between the ages of zero and six; • formal education programs rather than drop-in or informal support services; • with content that is identified in an outline or program materials;

17. Program Criteria • offered in BC at the time of my study; • designed for parents of young children, between the ages of zero and six; • formal education programs rather than drop-in or informal support services; • with content that is identified in an outline or program materials; • with content that does not change each time the program is delivered based on who participates and what the participants request; and

18. Program Criteria • offered in BC at the time of my study; • designed for parents of young children, between the ages of zero and six; • formal education programs rather than drop-in or informal support services; • with content that is identified in an outline or program materials; • with content that does not change each time the program is delivered based on who participates and what the participants request; and • focused primarily on parent outcomes.

19. Formal Programs Found in BC (N=26)

20. Participating Programs (N=17)

21. FI Content Found (N=17)

22. Promising Findings • Variety of audiences presented with specific FI content

23. Promising Findings • Variety of audiences presented with specific FI content • Generative approach to FI

24. Approaches to FI • Based on Erikson’s (1950, 1982 as cited in Dollahite, Hawkins & Brotherson, 1997) concept of generativity, generative fathering is “fathering that meets the needs of children by working to create and maintain a developing ethical relationship with them” (p. 20).

25. Approaches to FI • A deficit paradigm situates fathers as “uninvolved, uninterested, unskilled and unmotivated to perform their proper paternal role” (Hawkins & Dollahite, 1997, p. 7).

26. Approaches to FI • A comparative framework views paternal involvement through a mother template (Palkovitz, 1997), whereby fathers’ involvement and abilities are “invariably described and evaluated . . . by using women’s performance of the mother role as the model or standard” (Day & Mackey, 1989, p. 401).

27. Promising Findings • Generative approach to FI • Variety of audiences presented with specific FI content • Several dimensions of FI acknowledged

28. Dimensions of FI Found (n=15)

29. Promising Findings • Generative approach to FI • Variety of audiences presented with specific FI content • Several dimensions of FI acknowledged • Pathways/barriers to FI introduced

30. Pathways/barriers to FI (n=4)

31. There is opportunity to: • provide parent education programs with space to examine the relational qualities that impact effective parenting, rather than focus on “problem parenting” as necessarily stemming from a lack of knowledge or skills about behaviour (Grusec, 2006), inviting the exploration of the interconnectedness of paternal involvement with other relational contexts (Palkovitz, 2002).

32. There is opportunity to: • improve parent education programs so they take into account the enormous complexity of father involvement, including the “cultural embeddedness and variability” (Roggman et al., 2002, p. 2) of fatherhood today.

33. There is opportunity to: • explore the tensions, challenges, and possibilities that are generated within the “shifting gender practices in the culture of parenting” (Daly, 2004, p.11) for both fathers and mothers.

34. Why focus on parent education as a place to increase father involvement information? • Education and support resources available to parents are growing (Mann, 2006)

35. Why focus on parent education as a place to increase father involvement information? • Education and support resources available to parents are growing (Mann, 2006) • Parent education programs both project and participate in generating the construction of parents

36. Why focus on parent education as a place to increase father involvement information? • Education and support resources available to parents are growing (Mann, 2006) • Parent education programs both project and participate in generating the construction of parents • Formal programs can compliment other resources designed to support parenting capacity

37. Why focus on parent education as a place to increase father involvement information? • Education and support resources available to parents are growing (Mann, 2006) • Parent education programs both project and participate in generating the construction of parents • Formal programs can compliment other resources designed to support parenting capacity • Many parents participate in prenatal and post-natal parent education classes (Solk, 2007)

38. Why focus on parent education as a place to increase father involvement information? • Education and support resources available to parents are growing (Mann, 2006) • Parent education programs both project and participate in generating the construction of parents • Formal programs can compliment other resources designed to support parenting capacity • Many parents participate in prenatal and post-natal parent education classes (Solk, 2007) • Not including father involvement information in parent education programs is a missed opportunity