
Introduction
Research Questions
- What are the overall impacts of fatherhood programs on parenting, healthy relationships with coparents, economic stability, and fathers’ well-being?
- What are the core components of fatherhood programs that are associated with larger impacts on parenting, healthy relationships with coparents, economic stability, and fathers’ well-being?
This infographic highlights findings from a meta-analysis conducted as part of a large-scale federal evaluation called Testing Identified Elements for Success in Fatherhood Programs, or Fatherhood TIES. Fatherhood TIES will identify fatherhood program core components and then rigorously test the impacts of these core components on outcomes related to fathers’ parenting, healthy relationships with coparents, individual well-being, and economic stability. To accomplish the first part of this goal, the team conducted a core components meta-analysis that drew on technical reports and peer-reviewed journal articles describing fatherhood programs. The findings offer new information about what components of a fatherhood program might most affect fathers’ parenting knowledge and skills, well-being, and healthy relationships with coparents, as well as their economic stability.
Purpose
This infographic highlights findings from a meta-analysis conducted as part of a large-scale federal evaluation called Testing Identified Elements for Success in Fatherhood Programs, or Fatherhood TIES. The findings, described in detail in a prior, related publication (“Identifying Core Components in Fatherhood Programs: A Meta-analytic Approach” (OPRE Report 2024-09)), offer new information about what components of a fatherhood program might most affect fathers’ parenting knowledge and skills, well-being, and healthy relationships with coparents, as well as their economic stability.
Key Findings and Highlights
Compared with programs offering only group-based services, programs delivered in individual formats had larger impacts on outcomes related to economic stability, as well as those related to parenting, father well-being, and healthy relationships with coparents when combined.
Studies that focused on parenting knowledge and skills or fathers’ roles in the family had larger impacts on outcomes related to parenting, father well-being, and healthy relationships with coparents than programs that did not include those content areas.
Studies that involved on-the-job training or job-related education and career guidance had larger impacts on economic stability outcomes than programs that did not include that content.
Studies where participants were all from similar racial and ethnic backgrounds showed larger effects. While this analysis cannot explain why, this result suggests group dynamics and cultural context are important to consider.
Studies that reported challenges putting their programs into practice tended to have smaller impacts on outcomes related to economic stability than studies that did not report implementation problems.
Methods
The research team used a rapid search strategy to identify eligible studies for the meta-analysis and identified 57 studies that were eligible for further coding and analysis. Members of the team then coded the following information for each study: (1) study and program characteristics and (2) effect sizes. Study and program characteristics included a range of theorized core components (for example, program content and program format) as well as contextual information about the study, such as the study design and the demographic composition of the sample. The team then used descriptive statistics to summarize characteristics about the studies and metaregressions to identify the features of the programs that were most strongly associated with positive impacts. For more information on this meta-analysis, see Meghan McCormick, Sandra Wilson, and Allison Dymnicki, Identifying Core Components in Fatherhood Programs: A Meta-analytic Approach, OPRE Report 2024-09 (Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2024).
Citation
McCormick, Meghan, Sandra Wilson, Allison Dymnicki, and Jose Morales. 2024. “Which Program Elements Are Associated with Better Outcomes for Fathers?” OPRE Report 2024-332. Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Glossary
- Meta-analysis:
- An approach that combines studies of multiple programs to determine the overall average impacts of programs of a certain type. It generally examines whole programs. Meta-analysis that moves beyond estimating average effects and focuses explicitly on program and study characteristics is one nonexperimental methodology researchers can use to determine whether there are measurable program components that are related to larger effects for study participants.
- Core components:
- The parts, features, attributes, or characteristics of a program most strongly associated with its success.