Working with fathers to improve children's well-being: Results of a survey exploring service provision and intervention approach in the UK

Scourfield, Jonathan ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6218-8158, Cheung, Sin Yi ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9913-1451 and Macdonald, Geraldine 2014. Working with fathers to improve children's well-being: Results of a survey exploring service provision and intervention approach in the UK. Children and Youth Services Review 43 , pp. 40-50. 10.1016/j.childyouth.2014.04.009

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Abstract

Interventions for fathers are a recent growth area in family services. Although some specific approaches are beginning to be evaluated, there is little known about what kinds of interventions are more generally being used in practice. A web-based survey of practitioners was conducted in the UK, with contact being made via local authority service managers. Two hundred and twenty-one responses were received from 53% of local authorities. Both interventions specifically for fathers and services for both parents were targeted in the survey. Results are reported on organisational location; targeting of services; type of intervention; numbers and percentages of men attending services, recruitment of fathers; evaluation strategies; and ideological and theoretical approaches. Numbers of fathers engaged are relatively low – e.g. the median annual number of fathers attending structured parenting courses was eight and in courses for both parents, 21% of those attending were men. Responses on ideological and theoretical approaches suggest that overt gender politics play only a small part, but that the dominant views of practitioners are in line with mainstream approaches to parenting support. Cognitive and behavioral approaches were the most popular.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Development and Evaluation of Complex Interventions for Public Health Improvement (DECIPHer) Social Sciences (Includes Criminology and Education)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
Publisher:	Elsevier
ISSN:	0190-7409
Funders:	ESRC
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	30 March 2016
Last Modified:	03 May 2023 21:45
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/59834

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