Stepping Up 4 Your Child (4yourchild)

July 21, 2021 updated by: Armon R. Perry, University of Louisville

Stepping Up 4 Your Child: The Impact of an Educational Program and Social Case Work Involvement on Single Fathers

Through Stepping Up 4 Your Child, non-custodial fathers will be provided with a comprehensive, solution-oriented program featuring group based parent education and individualized case management to help them achieve financial independence, increase their parenting skills, and develop a co-parenting alliance.

Study Overview

Status

Status

Indicates the current recruitment status or the expanded access status.
Completed

Conditions

Conditions

The disease, disorder, syndrome, illness, or injury that is being studied. On ClinicalTrials.gov, conditions may also include other health-related issues, such as lifespan, quality of life, and health risks.

Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.

Detailed Description

Fathers' involvement in their children's lives has received increased attention in recent years. In response, support has grown for responsible fatherhood programs aimed at improving the quantity and quality of fathers' involvement. Research on these programs has concluded that factors such as fathers' parenting skills, co-parenting relationship quality, and socioeconomic status all impact fathers' ability to contribute to their children's growth and development. Using this previous research as a foundation, the Stepping Up 4 Your Child project will go beyond traditional fatherhood initiatives by integrating the provision of responsible parenting, economic stability, and relationship education services to fathers at risk for paternal disengagement. To do so, the University of Louisville's Kent School of Social Work will leverage its existing relationship with the Kentucky Office of Child Support Enforcement. Specifically, through Stepping Up 4 Your Child, non-custodial fathers will be provided with a comprehensive, solution-oriented program featuring group based parent education and individualized case management to help them achieve financial independence, increase their parenting skills, and develop a co-parenting alliance. Given that each of these focus areas have all been cited as three of the strongest predictors of paternal engagement, Stepping Up 4 Your Child and the results of its evaluation will have significant implications for the families it serves, as well as the practitioners, researchers, and policymakers interested in responsible fatherhood. 1

Study Type

Study Type

Describes the nature of a clinical study. Study types include interventional studies (also called clinical trials), observational studies (including patient registries), and expanded access.
Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

Enrollment

The number of participants in a clinical study. The "anticipated" enrollment is the target number of participants that the researchers need for the study.
1266

Phase

Phase

The stage of a clinical trial studying a drug or biological product, based on definitions developed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The phase is based on the study's objective, the number of participants, and other characteristics. There are five phases: Early Phase 1 (formerly listed as Phase 0), Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3, and Phase 4. Not Applicable is used to describe trials without FDA-defined phases, including trials of devices or behavioral interventions.
  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Kentucky
      • Elizabethtown, Kentucky, United States, 42701
      • Louisville, Kentucky, United States, 40292
        • University of Louisville
      • Owensboro, Kentucky, United States, 42302
      • Owenton, Kentucky, United States, 40359
      • Paducah, Kentucky, United States, 42003
      • Sandy Hook, Kentucky, United States, 41171

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

The key requirements that people who want to participate in a clinical study must meet or the characteristics they must have. Eligibility criteria consist of both inclusion criteria (which are required for a person to participate in the study) and exclusion criteria (which prevent a person from participating). Types of eligibility criteria include whether a study accepts healthy volunteers, has age or age group requirements, or is limited by sex.

Ages Eligible for Study

16 years to 105 years (ADULT, OLDER_ADULT, CHILD)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

Male

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • non-custodial father AND
  • age 16-24 OR
  • age 24 up + low income OR
  • age 24 up + child support payment delinquent

Exclusion Criteria:

  • female
  • custodial father
  • male but not a father
  • younger than age 16

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: TREATMENT
  • Allocation: RANDOMIZED
  • Interventional Model: PARALLEL
  • Masking: NONE

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Participant Group / Arm

A group or subgroup of participants in a clinical trial that receives a specific intervention/treatment, or no intervention, according to the trial's protocol.
Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.
EXPERIMENTAL: 4 Your Child Program
Program integrates the provision of responsible parenting, economic stability, and relationship education services to fathers at risk for paternal disengagement.
Behavioral: 4 Your Child Program
Integrates the provision of responsible parenting, economic stability, and relationship education services to fathers at risk for paternal disengagement.
EXPERIMENTAL: 4 Your Child + Case Management
Participants assigned to treatment group that includes case management will receive an initial assessment to determine their strengths and needs. The participant will then work collaboratively with their case manager to connect to community resources to meet his needs. To do so, the case manager will meet with the participant using the following schedule: Months 1-2: intervention in the form of weekly face-to-face meeting with a case manager, plus a weekly phone call from a case manager; Months 3-4: intervention in the form of face-to-face meeting every other week, plus a weekly phone call; Months 5-6: intervention in the form of face-to-face meeting once a month, plus a weekly phone call.
Behavioral: 4 Your Child Program
Integrates the provision of responsible parenting, economic stability, and relationship education services to fathers at risk for paternal disengagement.
NO_INTERVENTION: Waiting list control
Individuals who are randomly assigned to this condition will receive no treatment for a period of months in parallel with the experimental intervention conditions. Data will be gathered from them, and they will be randomly assigned to a treatment condition when possible.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, the planned outcome measure that is the most important for evaluating the effect of an intervention/treatment. Most clinical studies have one primary outcome measure, but some have more than one.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in Fathering Knowledge and Skills.
Time Frame: immediate after intervention, at 3 months later and at 6 months later
Fathering knowledge and skills will be measured using the 24/7 Dad Fathering Skills Survey (National Fatherhood Initiative, 2010). This survey has 25 items that are multiple choice response questions. This survey comes with the 24/7 Dad curriculum packet. Given that this survey is a measure of fathering knowledge and not a standardized scale, no reliability data are available.
immediate after intervention, at 3 months later and at 6 months later
Change in Fathers' Parenting Behavior.
Time Frame: immediate after intervention, at 3 months later and at 6 months later
Fathers' reported parenting behavior will be measured using the Index of Father Involvement (Hawkins et al., 2002). This measure has 9 factors loaded as subscales designed to tap direct and indirect forms of involvement and a total of 26 items. All items are measured on a 5 point scale ranging from A (excellent) to F (failing). The measure has a reported reliability/internal consistency score of .69
immediate after intervention, at 3 months later and at 6 months later
Change in Child Support Compliance.
Time Frame: immediate after intervention, at 3 months later and at 6 months later
These payment data will be obtained via reports from the Kentucky Office of Child Support Enforcement.
immediate after intervention, at 3 months later and at 6 months later
Change in Co-Parenting Relationship Quality.
Time Frame: immediate after intervention, at 3 months later and at 6 months later
Co-Parenting Relationship Quality. Co-parenting relationship quality will be measured using the Co-parenting Questionnaire (CQ, Margolis, Gordis, & John, 2001). This measure is a 14-item self-report instrument examining: 1) the amount of conflict between parents surrounding parenting issues, 2) cooperation as the extent to which mothers and fathers support, value, and respect each other as parents and the degree to which they ease one another's parenting burden, and 3) triangulation, the extent to which parents distort parent-child boundaries by attempting to form a coalition with the child that undermines or excludes the other parent. The 14 items form a three factor structure and have good internal consistency with alphas for the 3 factors and the total scale ranging from .69 to .87.
immediate after intervention, at 3 months later and at 6 months later

Secondary Outcome Measures

Secondary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, a planned outcome measure that is not as important as the primary outcome measure for evaluating the effect of an intervention but is still of interest. Most clinical studies have more than one secondary outcome measure.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in Conflict Resolution Skills.
Time Frame: immediate after intervention, at 3 months later and at 6 months later
The Stanley-Markman Relationship Dynamics Scale (Renick et al, 1992) will be used to measure conflict resolution skills. This measure has reported Chronbach's alpha levels of .73 and .81 (Stanley et al, 2006) and strong predictive validity for relationship failure.
immediate after intervention, at 3 months later and at 6 months later
Change in Communication Skills.
Time Frame: immediate after intervention, at 3 months later and at 6 months later
Communication skills will be measured through the Communication Patterns Questionnaire to assess communication skills. This measure has strong discriminant validity and Chronbach's alpha levels ranging from .73 to .88 (Noller & White, 1990).
immediate after intervention, at 3 months later and at 6 months later

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Sponsor

The organization or person who initiates the study and who has authority and control over the study.
University of Louisville

Collaborators

Collaborators

An organization other than the sponsor that provides support for a clinical study. This support may include activities related to funding, design, implementation, data analysis, or reporting.
Kentucky Cabinet for Health & Family Services

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (ACTUAL)

Study Start

The actual date on which the first participant was enrolled in a clinical study. The "anticipated" study start date is the date that the researchers think will be the study start date.
July 1, 2016

Primary Completion (ACTUAL)

Primary Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention to collect final data for the primary outcome measure. Whether the clinical study ended according to the protocol or was terminated does not affect this date. For clinical studies with more than one primary outcome measure with different completion dates, this term refers to the date on which data collection is completed for all the primary outcome measures. The "anticipated" primary completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the primary completion date for the study.
December 30, 2020

Study Completion (ACTUAL)

Study Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention/treatment to collect final data for the primary outcome measures, secondary outcome measures, and adverse events (that is, the last participant's last visit). The "anticipated" study completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the study completion date.
December 30, 2020

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

First Submitted

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submitted a study record to ClinicalTrials.gov. There is typically a delay of a few days between the first submitted date and the record's availability on ClinicalTrials.gov (the first posted date).
July 7, 2016

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submits a study record that is consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. The sponsor or investigator may need to revise and submit a study record one or more times before NLM's QC review criteria are met. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
July 20, 2016

First Posted (ESTIMATE)

First Posted

The date on which the study record was first available on ClinicalTrials.gov after National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review has concluded. There is typically a delay of a few days between the date the study sponsor or investigator submitted the study record and the first posted date.
July 25, 2016

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (ACTUAL)

Last Update Posted

The most recent date on which changes to a study record were made available on ClinicalTrials.gov. There may be a delay between when the changes were submitted to ClinicalTrials.gov by the study's sponsor or investigator (the last update submitted date) and the last update posted date.
July 28, 2021

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator submitted changes to a study record that are consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
July 21, 2021

Last Verified

Last Verified

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator confirmed the information about a clinical study on ClinicalTrials.gov as accurate and current. If a study with a recruitment status of recruiting; not yet recruiting; or active, not recruiting has not been confirmed within the past 2 years, the study's recruitment status is shown as unknown.
July 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

Other Study ID Numbers

Identifiers or ID numbers other than the NCT number that are assigned to a clinical study by the study's sponsor, funders, or others. These numbers may include unique identifiers from other trial registries and National Institutes of Health grant numbers.
  • 15.1258

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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