DadSpace: Increasing Community Support Resources for Perinatal Fathers

The project is aimed at meeting the support needs of community fathers who are expecting a baby or who have recently had a baby. This work is being conducted in conjunction with community partners through The Women's Clinic of Northern Colorado (WCNC). Researchers and WCNC staff will work together to develop and implement programs for prenatal and postpartum fathers. Participants will be invited to a group mentoring program and also will be provided access to supplementary educational podcasts focused on topics relevant to prenatal and postpartum fathers. The investigators are seeking to understand what participants like and don't like about the program and how participation in the program affects participants' stress, well-being, and parenting.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Family Relations; Paternal Behavior; Father-Child Relations
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: DadSpace

Detailed Description

The investigators are building on previous work to identify opportunities to meet the needs of perinatal fathers. The term perinatal encompasses the time leading up to and immediately following the birth of a child. Father involvement in child rearing is beneficial to mothers and children, but fathers are routinely overlooked by available support opportunities at the transition to parenthood. This pilot project seeks to apply research evidence and best practices to address the disparity in socioemotional community support and education programs serving perinatal fathers. In a previous pilot study, the investigators learned from fathers participating in focus groups that participants were interested in opportunities to connect with other fathers in the same life stage to talk about personal experiences and learn from each other. The investigators also learned that fathers worry about meeting varied role expectations, that available resources tend to overlook the unique experiences of fathers, and that it can be challenging to find quality information in a digital world saturated with conflicting information about parenting. This project seeks to address these primary issues through community-based, father-centric support and educational programs. WCNC education staff will facilitate a discussion-based group mentoring program for fathers who are expecting or recently had a baby. This program seeks to increase connection with other fathers, reduce stress related to parenting a baby, and increase parenting confidence. The investigators plan to evaluate the feasibility of the program through satisfaction surveys and other measures of the program's implementation. The investigators also plan to evaluate the effectiveness of the program by providing participants with surveys asking about their well-being, knowledge, confidence in parenting, and their satisfaction with their social networks. The investigators are additionally developing educational podcasts focused on topics relevant to prenatal and postpartum fathers, which will be evaluated as a supplementary component to the mentoring program. Research objectives are the following: Study 1, Objective 1 (Primary): The investigators seek to determine the feasibility and acceptability of a program targeting perinatal fathers offered in a community clinic setting. Study 1, Objective 2 (Primary): Examine whether participating in a discussion-based group mentoring program increases the likelihood of positive short-term outcomes for fathers. Study 1 Objective 3 (Secondary): Identify whether listening to brief, targeted educational podcasts predicts increased positive outcomes for fathers over and above the mentoring group alone. Study 2 Objective 1 (Primary): Identify whether participants who listen to brief, targeted educational podcasts find the podcasts satisfactory and acceptable as a method of gaining information about perinatal fatherhood.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 20
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Colorado
    • Fort Collins, Colorado, United States, 80523-1570
      • Colorado State University

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Participants must be expecting a baby or have a baby less than one year of age and planning to take the DadSpace mentoring program.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Non-English speaking

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Allocation: N/A
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Intervention / Treatment

Experimental: DadSpace Intervention; Participants will take part in a 12-hour educational discussion-based mentoring program intervention over 8 weeks. The intervention will be facilitated by a trained father facilitator and will include education and support on topics relevant to perinatal fathers. Topics include father identity, stress management, infant development, co-parenting, masculinity and caregiving, healthy communication, and work-life balance. Participants will additionally have access to a brief educational podcast series on related topics. Participants will also be invited to monthly follow-up daddy/baby drop-in groups.

Behavioral: DadSpace; A group educational support and mentoring program for perinatal fathers.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in Knowledge of Infant Development Inventory	This 19-item abbreviated version of the inventory assesses accurate knowledge of infant development. The first 11 items are rated as true or false and include questions such as "Babies may cry for 20-30 minutes at a time, no matter how much you try to comfort them" and "Some parents do not bond until their baby starts to smile and look at them." An additional 6 items ask parents to rate whether they think babies can do something at the age listed in the item or whether the developmental task (e.g., "Six-month-olds know what 'no' means.") occurs in younger or older children. Two additional items ask respondents to choose the best way to respond to potentially stressful infant behaviors (breaking things and fussing at night). Item responses are scored as correct or incorrect with percent correct as the final measure.	Every 4 weeks up to 16 weeks, including pre-intervention, mid-intervention, post-intervention, and follow-up
Change in Self-Perceptions of the Parental Role-Competence Scale	A 6-item measure of feelings of efficacy/competence in the parental role. Items are weighted on a range from 1 to 4, with higher scores indicating higher confidence in the parental role, a better outcome. Scores are totaled with a possible range from 4 to 24.	Every 4 weeks up to 16 weeks, including pre-intervention, mid-intervention, post-intervention, and follow-up
Change in Social Network Questionnaire-Satisfaction Scale	7 yes/no items on satisfaction with the support received from one's social network. More "yes" answers indicates lower satisfaction with the social network, a worse outcome. Scores are reverse-scored and totaled with a possible range from 0 to 7 so that higher scores indicate more satisfaction.	Every 4 weeks up to 16 weeks, including pre-intervention, mid-intervention, post-intervention, and follow-up
Change in Role Conflict Scale	2 subscales that assess work conflict with family life, family life conflict with work, and work-family balance. Item values range from 1 to 6. Higher scores indicate a worse outcome. Scores are totaled with a possible range of 8 to 48.	Every 4 weeks up to 16 weeks, including pre-intervention, mid-intervention, post-intervention, and follow-up
Change in Perceived Stress Scale	10 items related to anxiety, stress, and coping with upsets. Items values range from 0 to 4 with higher scores indicating higher perceived stress, a worse outcome. Scores are totaled with a possible range from 0 to 40.	Every 4 weeks up to 16 weeks, including pre-intervention, mid-intervention, post-intervention, and follow-up
Change in Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale	10 items that measure core features of postnatal depression. Item values range from 0 to 3 with a higher score indicating higher depressive symptoms, a worse outcome. Scores are totaled with a possible range from 0 - 30.	Every 4 weeks up to 16 weeks, including pre-intervention, mid-intervention, post-intervention, and follow-up
Change in Spielberger State Anxiety Scale (Short Form)	10 items assessing feelings of upset and anxiety versus contentment at the present time. Item values range from 1 to 4 with a higher score indicating higher state anxiety, a worse outcome. Scores are totaled with a total possible range from 6 to 24.	Every 4 weeks up to 16 weeks, including pre-intervention, mid-intervention, post-intervention, and follow-up
Change in Coparenting Relationship Scale - Brief	13 items assessing coparent collaboration versus conflict related to child rearing. Items values range from 0 to 6 with higher scores indicating a better coparenting relationship. Items are totaled with a possible range from 0 - 72.	Every 4 weeks up to 16 weeks, including pre-intervention, mid-intervention, post-intervention, and follow-up

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in Pearlin Mastery Scale	7-item measure of general self-efficacy versus helplessness. Item values range from 1 to 6 with higher scores indicating worse self-efficacy. Scores are totaled with a total possible range from 6 to 42.	Every 4 weeks up to 16 weeks, including pre-intervention, mid-intervention, post-intervention, and follow-up
Change in Paternal Postnatal Attachment Scale	Assesses fathers' positive feelings versus lack of enjoyment with the baby. Item values have been revised from the original scale to range from 1 to 6 with higher scores indicating more positive feelings toward the baby. Scores are totaled with a possible range from 19 to 114.	Every 4 weeks up to 16 weeks, including pre-intervention, mid-intervention, post-intervention, and follow-up

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Attendance	Number of total sessions attended by participants (dosage)	Measured across the 8 weeks of intervention delivery with one session offered per week.
Facilitator Fidelity to Protocol	A checklist of intervention items completed by the facilitator to identify adherence to the intervention protocol.	Measured across the 8 weeks of intervention delivery
Helpfulness of Information Sources	Fathers report on how helpful they found the provided resources (e.g., handouts) on a scale from 1 to 4 with a higher score indicating a higher degree of helpfulness, a better outcome.	Measured at posttest, 8 weeks after pretest.
Participant Engagement	Facilitator ratings of participants' active participation and evidence that fathers have been trying out skills covered in classes. Engagement was measured by totaling scores from two items. Item one asked facilitator's to rate how active participants were in participating in class measured on a scale from 0 (passive) to 5 (active). Item two asked facilitators to rate the degree to which they have observed the participants trying out the skills they are learning in class on a scale from 0 (not at all) to 3 (yes, quite a lot). After summing scores for the two items, engagement has a possible range of 0-8. Higher scores indicate more engagement, a better outcome.Total scores were averaged to produce a single score of engagement across all weekly sessions and cohorts.	Measured after each of 8 weekly sessions. Scores for each week were averaged to produce a total score of engagement for all participants.
Support Group Social Exchange Scale	The 27-item Support Group Social Exchange Scale assesses various types of social exchanges that can occur in support group dynamics, including experiential knowledge, emotional support, humor, and unwanted behavior. We removed three of the five items asking about humor, reducing the number of items to 24. Items statements (e.g., "I shared my personal problems with group members") are rated from 0 (never) to 6 (always). Three items ask participants to rate the number of times they interacted with other participants outside of group meetings, such as by doing favors for and socializing with each other, with ordinal response categories ranging from 0 (0 times) to 4 (10 or more times). Item scores are summed to produce a total score for each participant with a possible range from 0 to 156. Higher scores indicate a more positive perception of group social dynamics, a better outcome.	Immediately after the intervention
Satisfaction With DadSpace Program	Fathers rate their overall satisfaction with the utility of each of the eight sessions on a scale from 0 to 10 with higher scores indicating more satisfaction. Scores are averaged for an average satisfaction score.	Immediately after the end of the intervention
Workshop Environment Scale	The Workshop Environment Scale provides a measure of group dynamics and facilitator alliance. Items were adapted to fit the specific program and reduced to 10 questions scaled from 1 (strongly disagree) to 4 (strongly agree), with higher scores indicating more positive perceptions of the workshop environment, a better outcome. Item scores were summed to produce a total score with a possible range of 4 to 40.	Participants completed the workshop environment scale at posttest (time 3).

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Colorado State University
• Collaborators: Colorado Clinical & Translational Sciences Institute
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Julie Braungart-Rieker, PhD, Colorado State University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): August 6, 2021
• Primary Completion (Actual): December 31, 2022
• Study Completion (Actual): December 31, 2022

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: September 8, 2021
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: September 21, 2021
• First Posted (Actual): October 1, 2021

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): December 2, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 14, 2025
• Last Verified: November 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Perinatal
• Other Study ID Numbers: 1754

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No