“It Taught Me How to Love on My Kids”: Perceptions of Acceptability and Effectiveness of the 24:7 Dad Parenting Curriculum

Abstract

Little is known about system-involved fathers’ perceptions of parenting programs, and whether they believe they focus on topics they value. Service providers in family serving systems are positioned to refer fathers to parenting programs, albeit their perspectives of fatherhood are also largely unexplored. To that end, 17 fathers who recently graduated from the 24:7 Dad^® participated in focus groups, whereas 24 service providers completed 1:1 semi-structured interviews. Thematic analyses revealed that fathers’ acceptability of 24:7 Dad is contingent upon two conditions: (1) whether they believe the curriculum adheres to how they define fatherhood and provides skills to live up to said delineations, and (2) whether they convey that they gained valuable lessons on how to parent successfully. Providers also acquire acceptability under these conditions. Efforts should be devoted to integrating trauma-sensitive practices into 24:7 Dad.