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NCT Number: NCT07676240

An Adapted Evidence-Based Coaching Program for Fathers and Their Young Children in the Context of Home Visiting

Father-child pairs (N=200; children ages 12-36 months) will be randomized to FIND-F or a waitlist control group. Assessments comparing the two groups will occur at baseline, end of program, and 6 months post-program. Our aims include:

Aim 1: Evaluate the main impacts of FIND-F on the primary program target (fathers' supportive parenting) and related child and parent outcomes.

Aim 2. Identify mechanisms of FIND-F's intervention effects.

Aim 3. Examine variation by select child, father, and program measures.

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Key information

Conditions

Positive Parenting

Age range

12 month and older

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

Akin

Seattle, Washington, 98125, United States

Location status: Recruiting

Location contact

FIND Program Manager

CONTACT

[email protected]

206-695-3200

About this study

The proposed work will achieve three specific aims in the context of a two-arm, fully powered RCT. This will be one of the first large-scale RCTs focused on evaluating the impacts and underlying theory of a nurturing fathering program.

As fathers enroll, they will be randomly assigned to either FIND-F (Group A) or a waitlist control group (Group B). A waitlist control group design is proposed based on community views that it would be unethical to deny consenting, eligible fathers access to FIND-F. This is a common approach in early childhood evaluations to increase program access. Both groups will be assessed at three time points: baseline, endpoint, and 6-Month follow-up. After the 6-month follow-up assessment, the waitlist group will be given the opportunity to receive FIND-F.

Each FIND-F session focuses on a specific element of a serve and return interaction, using the edited films to support fathers in learning about that element. The five elements are: (a) Sharing Child's Focus- when the father notices what the child is interested in and puts his attention there too; (b) Supporting and Encouraging- when the father responds to the child's "serve" through acknowledging, soothing, comforting, or praising the child; (c) Naming - when the father provides a word or explanation for what the child is seeing, doing, or feeling; (d) Back and Forth- when the father and child continue interacting in a longer back-and-forth manner; and (e) Endings and Beginnings- when a child signals the end of an activity, a new serve and return interaction begins, and the father follows the child's lead.

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: Yes

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

  • Identify as a father
  • Speak English or Spanish
  • Have a child between the ages of 12-36 months who lives with you
  • Be enrolled in Akin services

Exclusion criteria

  • No additional exclusion criteria

Treatment and study plan

Filming Interactions to Nurture Development (FIND)

Behavioral

FIND-F is a 6-session manualized program that begins with the home visitor taking a 10-minute video of the father and child engaging in an everyday activity (e.g., playing, having a snack). Then, that video is carefully edited to emphasize the specific strengths observed in the father-child interactions. The brief, edited videos are then reviewed with the father the following week. In reviewing the video clips, the home visitor uses micro-analytic narration, highlighting the frame-by-frame sequence of events that fosters the child's healthy development. In this way, the goal of FIND-F is to shift the father's perceptions of himself and his child, enabling the father to become increasingly responsive and encouraging. Home visitors also provide opportunities for fathers to comment and ask questions throughout the video review.

Other names: FIND with Fathers, FIND-F

Primary outcomes

  1. Fathers' Supportive Parenting Practices

    Time frame: From enrollment to the end of treatment at 7 weeks

    Fathers' supportive parenting skills will be observed through videotaped father-child interactions. Fathers will be provided with a standard bag of toys and asked to "share these toys with your child as you normally would." Each set of toys (one set for pretest, one for endpoint, and one for follow-up) has been carefully selected with input from home visitors about which toys could support interactions across the age range in our study. The first 10 minutes of the videotaped interactions will be coded using the PICCOLO-D (Dads' Parenting Interactions with Children Checklist of Observations Linked to Outcomes).

  2. Fathers' Supportive Parenting Practices

    Time frame: 6 months after end of treatment

    Fathers' supportive parenting skills will be observed through videotaped father-child interactions. Fathers will be provided with a standard bag of toys and asked to "share these toys with your child as you normally would." Each set of toys (one set for pretest, one for endpoint, and one for follow-up) has been carefully selected with input from home visitors about which toys could support interactions across the age range in our study. The first 10 minutes of the videotaped interactions will be coded using the PICCOLO-D (Dads' Parenting Interactions with Children Checklist of Observations Linked to Outcomes).

Secondary outcomes

  1. Parenting Stress

    Time frame: From enrollment to the end of treatment at 7 weeks

    Fathers' parenting stress will be measured using the Parenting Stress Index-Short Form (PSI-SF) (Loyd & Abidin, 1985). The PSI-SF asks parents of children birth to 12 years old to indicate their level of agreement or disagreement about 36 statements on a 5-point scale regarding their level of stress, how difficult their child is to manage, and whether parenting fits their expectations.

  2. Father Identity

    Time frame: From enrollment to the end of treatment at 7 weeks

    Fathers' identity related to the fathering role will be measured with The Pie, which instructs fathers to create a graphical representation of their psychological investment in the different aspects of their lives (Cowan & Cowan, 1991). More specifically, fathers will be asked to list the main roles in their lives and then divide a circle (pie) into pieces so that the size of each piece represents the importance of that role. In this study, the degrees of the circle that represent fathering or parenting will be recorded.

  3. Children's Behavior Problems and Social and Emotional Competence

    Time frame: From enrollment to the end of treatment at 7 weeks

    We will use the Brief Infant-Toddler Social-Emotional Assessment (BITSEA) to measure both behavior problems and social and emotional competence (Briggs-Gowan, Carter, McCarthy, Augustyn, & Clark, 2013). The BITSEA is a standardized parent-reported measure of 42 items.

  4. Father Involvement

    Time frame: From enrollment to the end of treatment at 7 weeks

    Fathers' involvement will be captured through the Father Engagement Scale (Dyer et al., 2015). This measure is for use with fathers of children 12 months to 6 years and asks fathers 10 questions on a 5-point scale about the frequency of their engagement in activities such as playing with toys, hugging their child, talking with their child, and encouraging their child.

  5. Parenting Stress

    Time frame: 6 months after end of treatment

    Fathers' parenting stress will be measured using the Parenting Stress Index-Short Form (PSI-SF) (Loyd & Abidin, 1985). The PSI-SF asks parents of children birth to 12 years old to indicate their level of agreement or disagreement about 36 statements on a 5-point scale regarding their level of stress, how difficult their child is to manage, and whether parenting fits their expectations.

  6. Father Identity

    Time frame: 6 months after end of treatment

    Fathers' identity related to the fathering role will be measured with The Pie, which instructs fathers to create a graphical representation of their psychological investment in the different aspects of their lives (Cowan & Cowan, 1991). More specifically, fathers will be asked to list the main roles in their lives and then divide a circle (pie) into pieces so that the size of each piece represents the importance of that role. In this study, the degrees of the circle that represent fathering or parenting will be recorded.

  7. Children's Behavior Problems and Social and Emotional Competence

    Time frame: 6 months after end of treatment

    We will use the Brief Infant-Toddler Social-Emotional Assessment (BITSEA) to measure both behavior problems and social and emotional competence (Briggs-Gowan, Carter, McCarthy, Augustyn, & Clark, 2013). The BITSEA is a standardized parent-reported measure of 42 items.

  8. Father Involvement

    Time frame: 6 months after end of treatment

    Fathers' involvement will be captured through the Father Engagement Scale (Dyer et al., 2015). This measure is for use with fathers of children 12 months to 6 years and asks fathers 10 questions on a 5-point scale about the frequency of their engagement in activities such as playing with toys, hugging their child, talking with their child, and encouraging their child.

Study contacts

Contact information is provided by the study sponsor or research team.

Holly Schindler, PhD

CONTACT

[email protected]

206-616-0853

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

University of Washington

Other

Collaborators

  • Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)
  • Stanford University

Registry information

Official study title

Randomized Controlled Trial of an Adapted Evidence-Based Coaching Program for Fathers and Their Young Children in the Context of Home Visiting

Important dates

Study start
2026
Primary completion
2029
Study completion
2029
First posted
Jun 30, 2026
Registry last updated
Jun 30, 2026

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

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