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600 Oklahoma Dads Gaining Hope and Belief from 24:7 Dad®

4 min read

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Dads are an essential pillar in families. Unfortunately, they often feel underprepared and uncertain about being the parent they want to be and their children and partners need them to be. Many didn’t have an example of a dad who was there for them.

In fact, many dads are trying to learn what it means to be a dad at a time when they’re expected to be more involved and more skillful as parents than previous generations. On top of this, children aren’t born with an instruction manual, and there aren’t any 15-minute DIY videos to walk today’s dads through the countless unique and challenging circumstances that come with the job.

As a result, dads can lack the hope and belief they can be good dads, two components critical to effective parenting. In the fall of 2023, the Strong Dads program at Oklahoma State University’s Extension Services partnered with National Fatherhood Initiative®(NFI) to help dads in nine Oklahoma counties build that hope and belief. University researchers have started measuring the program’s impact on those outcomes.

24:7 Dad® Plus Case Management

Since its launch, Strong Dads has served more than 600 dads with a combined total of more than 2,000 children. Using NFI’s evidence-based 24:7 Dad® program as its foundation, staff also provide individualized case management, connecting them with local resources to accomplish their fatherhood and personal goals. The 12-week NFI program builds dads’ self-awareness, self-care, fathering skills, parenting skills, and relationship skills. Dads explore these fathering traits, learn from research-grounded lessons on parenting and relationships, and interact during activities and semi-structured discussions guided by NFI-trained Strong Dads facilitators. The facilitators deliver the program in weekly sessions in small groups (i.e., 12 or fewer dads), helping the dads foster connections and friendships with each other.

These groups often become sources of support and mentorship as the dads help one another and share their fatherhood successes and failures in an environment of care and encouragement. It isn’t unusual to find some of these dads still engaged with each other after they “graduate” from the program as they continue to build friendships and supportive networks. Some graduates stay in touch with text and social media messaging, while others regularly get together for lunch to continue their fathering journey.

Evaluating the Program’s Impact

As OSU researchers have discovered, the program is making a positive difference with dads who are diverse in race, ethnicity, age, and community. Dads have shared stories of progress in regaining custody of their children and how valuable relationships with the other dads have been. In fact, for many dads, this friendship and connection was as important or even more important to them than the program’s content. Some have found the program so impactful that they’ve helped Strong Dads find and recruit more dads to the program! Moreover, the impact of the program isn’t lost on family members. Some of the dads’ romantic partners have described the positive change they’ve seen in graduates.

The dads' feedback on how Strong Dads has changed them has been overwhelmingly positive:

  • Over 90% of graduates report increasing their knowledge of parenting, being engaged with their children, and improving their communication and conflict-resolution skills.
  • Over 50% of dads have said their engagement with their children has not only increased but has increased “a lot.”
  • More than 60% and 70% have said the same about their communication skills and parenting knowledge, respectively. 

In addition to asking dads about the program’s impact, researchers have statistically explored how the dads have changed. Using several validated questionnaires that dads complete before and after the program, researchers have found statistically significant increases in graduates’ hope and belief that they can be good dads (i.e., greater confidence in reaching goals and ability to find ways to reach those goals). Furthermore, graduates are spending more quality time with their children, are more involved in the daily parts of raising children, and are more active in encouraging their children to develop their talents and abilities.*

The Reward

Working through the 24:7 Dad® curriculum and the Strong Dads program has been rewarding for everyone involved. Facilitators are serving a group that’s often left behind in parenting education. Researchers are growing knowledge to share with others engaged in the work of building fathers and their families.

Most importantly, the program has rewarded the dads who have courageously taken 12 weeks out of their busy lives and dared to be vulnerable in a new and uncomfortable way. The entire Strong Dads team hopes that the ripple effects of their work will flow through whole families and outwards into bettering entire communities and they are excited to keep working with NFI towards that goal.


* OSU researchers will continue evaluating the program. They expect more results later this year. We will share them in this blog.

Authors

chris_circle_icon

Christopher A. Brown serves as the President of National Fatherhood Initiative® (NFI), where he is responsible for overseeing the development and implementation of NFI's strategic plan and business model, as well as its operations and fundraising efforts.

jordan-shuler

Jordan Shuler, MS, earned a bachelor’s degree in Family Studies from Weber State University, UT and a master’s degree in Marriage and Family Therapy at Oklahoma State University. He is currently a Ph.D. student in Human Development and Family Science at OSU and conducts research on the experience of fathers and facilitators in fatherhood programs as well as research on committed couple relationship well-being.

Date Published: 02/04/2025

Last Updated: 02/04/2025

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