Promoting Health Among African-American Boys Whose Fathers Do Not Live With Them

University of Michigan: Prevention Research Center of Michigan

Topics:
Healthy Youth
Substance abuse prevention and control
Tobacco prevention and control
Violence prevention

The Fathers and Sons program, developed at the Prevention Research Center of Michigan, aims to prevent substance use, violent behavior, and early sexual initiation among African-American boys (aged 8-12 years) who do not live with their fathers. The program also aims to promote positive health behaviors among the boys by involving their fathers actively and effectively in their sons’ lives. The program focuses on three main areas: communication, cultural perspectives, and parenting skills.

A research partnership comprising several community-based organizations in Flint, Michigan, — the Genesee County Health Department and the University of Michigan's School of Public Health — resulted in developing a Fathers and Sons Program curriculum, followed by implementing and evaluating the program. The PRC is now documenting evaluation results and lessons learned.

Preliminary findings suggest that the Fathers and Sons Program successfully influenced several key factors thought to protect youth from engaging in health-risk behaviors. For example, intentions to communicate more effectively with their sons, ability to teach their sons about race-related issues, and satisfaction with parenting skills were enhanced among fathers who participated in the program, compared to fathers who did not participate. Preliminary results also showed that father-son communication about sexual matters improved among participating father-son pairs who had lived together for longer periods of time prior to separation, and also improved among sons who had brothers and sisters. Boys who attended the program, but had never lived with their fathers, showed greater improvements in their intentions to use alternative strategies rather than violence than did boys in a comparison group who did not attend the program and who also had never lived with their father.

The PRC is conducting a dissemination project focused on communicating findings from the Fathers and Sons Program and on replicating it in other communities. During the replication phase, center staff will identify community-based organizations (CBOs) that have an interest in, and resources for, implementing the program. Center staff and members of the center's Fathers and Sons steering committee will provide training and technical assistance to these CBOs about the program and about additional topics such as program development, grant writing, staff training, recruitment strategies, evaluation, and data gathering. After the program is implemented, researchers will determine whether the program's positive effects were repeated in these other communities.

 

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