Identifying Strategies to Engage African American Fathers in Parenting Programs: A Qualitative Study

Background and Purpose: Fatherlessness is a serious public health issue in the United States, especially in urban areas. A vast majority (80%) of African American children will spend some portion of their childhood living away from their father (U.S. DHHS, 1998). African American fathers face major obstacles in parenting as many live in poor urban areas where their families and communities offer few opportunities to acquire positive paternal behaviors (Rasheed & Johnson, 1995). The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore perceptions and opinions about parenting, parenting programs and strategies to engage low income African American fathers in such programs.

Methods: African American fathers over age 18 with at least one child between 4 and 12, with whom he has contact at least twice a month, were recruited with fliers distributed in areas frequented by the target population. Five focus groups were conducted with 29 fathers whose mean age was 37.5 years. Over half (52%) were single and not living with a partner, 34% were divorced or separated, 62% were unemployed, and 79% had completed high school or received a GED. Inductive thematic analysis was utilized to analyze the data. The analysis team used an iterative process to develop the codebook based on key ideas and recurrent themes that emerged. Transcripts were systematically coded with NVivo using the following themes: emotional barriers that inhibit participation, it's bigger than parenting, not for us--for them, and what's a parenting class.

Findings: Prevalent in the data was the finding that African American fathers did not perceive a need for parenting programs. This belief appeared related to their perceptions about parenting programs in general. Many fathers felt that the purpose of parenting programs was to learn how to discipline a child and that this was not needed in the African American community. For instance, one father stated that “we teach our children at home. I mean, we don't have to go to class to know because of our upbringing." There was consensus among the fathers that African American children knew how to behave in front of their parents. Another prevailing theme was that personal, financial, and societal issues were more pressing than learning parenting skills and prevent fathers from attending parenting classes. Furthermore, some of the fathers expressed an inability to relate to the term “parenting class.” Conclusion and Implications: Among participants in the study, parenting programs were not perceived to be culturally relevant and hence seen to be "for them--not us." These findings suggest that to engage fathers in parent training programs it may be necessary to repackage the material, make the information culturally relevant, and overcome preconceived ideas regarding the target populations of parenting programs. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (1998). Report of Final Natality Statistics, 1996.” Monthly Vital Statistics Report 46, no. 11, Supplement, Washington, D.C.

Rasheed, J. M. & Johnson, W. (1995). Non-custodial African American fatherhood: A case study research approach. Journal of Community Practice, 2, 99-116.