Evaluation of the Fathers Advancing Communities Together (FACT) Program

Urban Institute

Status: Unknown

Conditions: Responsible Fatherhood Programming

Treatments: Behavioral: Fathers Advancing Communities Together (FACT) program

Study type: Observational

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT03143439

09226-000-00

Details and patient eligibility

About

The Urban Institute-a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization-is partnering with Rubicon Programs to conduct a rigorous evaluation of its Fathers Advancing Communities Together (FACT) program. FACT is a multi-faceted program designed to deliver responsible parenting, healthy relationships, and economic stability services on a voluntary basis to low-income fathers in Contra Costa County, California. Urban's evaluation comprised of three key components:

The implementation evaluation will describe FACT program activities and services, including communication and coordination across partners, service delivery mechanisms, and whether and how participants and their families received comprehensive services. Urban will identify a logic model for the program and assess the barriers to and facilitators of program performance. The implementation evaluation will draw from interviews with program staff, partners, and stakeholders, as well as field observations, program and administrative data, and focus groups with FACT participants and their families.

The outcome evaluation will build on the implementation evaluation to determine whether specific program components, their frequency, and their duration, are related to outcomes. Urban will conduct surveys of program participants at the time of their enrollment into the program and one year following their enrollment to explore how participants' self-reported attitudes on various domains are associated with economic self-sufficiency and family functioning. Urban will also use program and administrative data collected by Rubicon and its partners, specifically Rubicon's case management database, to assess participant outcomes.

The impact evaluation will assess to what extent participation in the FACT program is associated with improved outcomes as compared to similarly situated individuals who did not participate in the program. Urban will work with Rubicon's partners to identify individuals living in Contra Costa County who were eligible to participate in the program but, for whatever reason, did not do so. Once a comparison group of fathers has been established, Urban will use individual-level outcome data to determine whether the FACT program has an impact on economic self-sufficiency and family functioning.

Enrollment: 520 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 45 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion and exclusion criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

• An individual is eligible for the impact evaluation if the individual is a FACT participant and is a parent with an open child support case in Contra Costa County, CA during the time of their enrollment.

Trial design

520 participants in 2 patient groups

Program group

Description:

The program group will be comprised of all individuals who enrolled in the FACT program from July 2016 through September 2019 and have active child support cases with the Contra Costa County Department of Child Support Services.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Fathers Advancing Communities Together (FACT) program

Comparison group

Description:

The comparison group will be comprised of individuals with active child support cases with the Contra Costa County Department of Child Support Services who are demographically comparable to the treatment group (i.e., FACT fathers with active child support cases), yet did not participate in or receive FACT services.