Dads Corps Program: Father-focused, Interconnected, Resilient, and Essential (FIRE) Healthy Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood (HMRF) Study

This study was in response to Grant Number HHS-2020-ACF-OZA-ZJ-1846 from the Office of Family Assistance (OFA) within the Administration for Children and Families (ACF, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Study enrollment began on April 1, 2021, and continued through April 1, 2024. The sample size for the study was 444. The goal of the Dads Corps program was to strengthen San Diego fathers and families financially and emotionally, and the services they provide are intended to help fathers improve their parenting, economic self-sufficiency, and marriage and relationship skills. The program was designed to achieve these goals by engaging dads in the evidence-based 24/7 Dad curriculum, a personal finance workshop led by the San Diego Financial Literacy Center, and the World Class Relationships curriculum. The primary research questions for this study, framed by a descriptive design, are as follows: • Will SDDC program participants experience significant increases in healthy parenting behaviors one year after participation? • Will SDDC program participants experience significant increases in healthy co-parenting behaviors one year after participation? • Will SDDC program participants experience significant increases in healthy economic behaviors one year after participation? The secondary research questions for this study, framed by a descriptive design, are as follows: • Will SDDC program participants experience significant increases in healthy parenting attitudes/beliefs/expectations immediately after participation? • Will SDDC program participants experience significant increases in healthy employment attitudes/beliefs/expectations immediately after participation? • Will SDDC program participants experience significant increases in healthy financial attitudes/beliefs/expectations immediately after participation? The implementation research questions for this study, framed by a descriptive design, are as follows: • To what extent were services offered and provided as intended? • To what extent are SDDC curriculum and services offered to and completed by participants? • To what extent did the Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) Team carry out the steps in the CQI Plan each program year? Clients recruited for the SDDC program were low-income fathers over the age of 18 who had children under the age of 25. The study sample included participants who first gave recorded informed consent to be part of the study and second took at least one baseline survey (OLLE pre-survey or nFORM Community Fathers Entrance Survey), the nFORM exit survey and OLLE post survey (for attitudinal measures) and the OLLE 1-year follow-up survey (for behavioral measures). Paired t-tests were conducted on continuous constructs using timepoint 1 (nFORM Entrance, OLLE Pre) and timepoint 2 (nFORM Exit, OLLE Post, OLLE Follow-Up) data. For categorical variables—such as yes/no questions about having a checking or savings account or a resume—McNemar’s chi-square tests were used to compare pre- to post-test differences in proportions. Statistical significance was set at p<0.05, and no adjustments for multiple comparisons were made. Tests were reported in terms of p-values. We observed notable improvements in several key outcomes though some remained unchanged. Parenting attitudes and co-parenting behavior showed no change while parenting behavior and financial attitudes improved significantly. Employment attitudes exhibited no significant change, but fathers economic behaviors saw meaningful gains, with more participants holding checking and savings accounts and maintaining updated resumes after completing the program.