Fathers have a significant impact on their children's well-being – an impact that begins even before the child is born. In fact, studies have shown that fathers who are involved during pregnancy have healthier children.
It's for that reason that Fathers forgotten when it comes to services to help them be good parents, new study finds is all the more important and compelling.
Joyce Y. Lee and Shawna J. Lee from the University of Michigan reviewed 1,353 studies. Of those, only 19 could be considered "father-friendly" where "father-friendly" means "involving or targeting fathers and including outcomes related to fathering, such as father involvement, father-infant interaction and father’s parenting knowledge." And making matters worse, "most programs reviewed in the systematic review lacked evidence of improving key fathering outcomes."
There is some good news, however. The authors identify several innovative programs being implemented and, more importantly, evaluated.
