Program Goals

The goals of 24/7 Dad^® are:

• Increase awareness about the elements to being good fathers.
• Increase knowledge about the elements to being good fathers.
• Increase capacity or skills to carry out what is learned.
• Increase pro-fathering habits.
• Increase self-worth as a man and father.

Logic Model

View the Logic Model for 24/7 Dad®.

Essential Components

The essential components of 24/7 Dad^® include:

• Group intervention with no more than 12 participants per group and a co-facilitator is recommended for large groups of 8-12.
• Each session follows a structured sequence of activities that build awareness and knowledge about the subject matter of the session. Fathers use the activities to increase their capacity or skills in caring for themselves, their children, and their relationships (e.g., with the mother of their children).
• Each session follows the same format for consistency:
• A 20-minute Welcome and Warm-Up Activity
• 90 minutes of interactive activities/exercises
• A 10-minute Closing, Comments, and Evaluation activity
• Fathers use their Fathering Handbook during each session (e.g., complete fill-in-the blank worksheets) to enhance and reinforce learning.
• Facilitators may use optional videos during each session to facilitate the Welcome and Warm-Up Activity and a portion or all of one other activity in each session.
• Sessions include activities that draw on the logical and analytical (left side) and creative and emotional (right side) parts of the brain. These activities combine to enhance the fathers' learning because they require them to use all parts of their brain. This approach helps facilitators create a balance of activities for fathers who are most comfortable with analytical exercises and fathers who are most comfortable with creative exercises.
• Facilitators ask fathers questions at the end of each session to gauge father' progress as the move through the program instead of only at the conclusion of the program. This in-progress evaluation allows facilitators to reinforce vital learning objectives that might be missed in the absence of this component and if they only evaluated the impact of the program's conclusion.
• Facilitators should follow the sessions in order and the sequence of the activities in each session to maintain program fidelity and to effectively evaluate the impact of the program.
• Sessions in the A.M. program include:
• Family History
• What it Means to Be a Man
• Showing and Handling Feelings
• Men's Health
• Communication
• The Father's Role
• Discipline
• Children's Growth
• Getting Involved
• Working with Mom and Co-Parenting
• Dads and Work
• My 24/7 Dad^® Checklist
• Sessions in the P.M. program include:
• Fathering and the 24/7 Dad
• Boyhood to Manhood
• Dealing with Anger
• Knowing Myself
• Family Ties
• Sex, Love, and Relationships
• Power and Control
• Competition and Fathering
• Improving My Communication Skills
• Fun with the Kids
• Stress, Alcohol, and Work
• My 24/7 Dad^® Checklist

Program Delivery

Parent/Caregiver Services

24/7 Dad® directly provides services to parents/caregivers and addresses the following:

• Lack of awareness and knowledge and poor skills related to being an effective parent and father; poor or strained relationship with the mother (or other main caregiver) of the father’s children

Recommended Intensity:

Weekly 2-hour sessions; may be delivered in a shorter duration depending on the audience (e.g., 2 sessions per week for a total of 4 hours)

Recommended Duration:

12 weeks for both A.M. and P.M. versions; may be delivered in a shorter duration depending on the audience (e.g., 6 weeks with 2 sessions per week)

Delivery Settings

This program is typically conducted in a(n):

• Outpatient Clinic
• Community-based Agency / Organization / Provider
• Group or Residential Care
• Justice Setting (Juvenile Detention, Jail, Prison, Courtroom, etc.)
• Other
• Public Child Welfare Agency (Dept. of Social Services, etc.)
• School Setting (Including: Day Care, Day Treatment Programs, etc.)
• Shelter (Domestic Violence, Homeless, etc.)
• Virtual (Online, Telephone, Video, Zoom, etc.)

Homework

24/7 Dad® includes a homework component:

The A.M. and P.M. versions include the My 24/7 Dad^® Checklist as part of the Closing, Comments, and Evaluation activity in each session that fathers use to identify the activities they will implement in the home/with their children/with the mother of their children. They use what they learned during each session to identify the activities to place in their checklist. Fathers report on their level of success in implementing their actions during the subsequent sessions.

Languages

24/7 Dad® has materials available in a language other than English:

Spanish

For information on which materials are available in this language, please check on the program's website or contact the program representative (contact information is listed at the bottom of this page).

Resources Needed to Run Program

The typical resources for implementing the program are:

The facilitator's manual for the A.M. and P.M. versions list the basic program supplies. Although there are some unique supplies needed for each session (most of which are supplied on the USB Flash Drive that comes with the programs), basic supplies include:

• A flip chart (or whiteboard) and markers
• A video system (e.g., computer-LCD combination) for playing videos
• Pens and pencils
• Blank pieces of paper
• A private room large enough for up to 12 fathers and the facilitator(s) to sit comfortably with the space to allow fathers to move around the room without bumping into each other, or objects, during the interactive activities that require movement around the room

Manuals and Training

Prerequisite/Minimum Provider Qualifications

There is no minimum education requirement for becoming a facilitator. It is recommended, but not required, that facilitators participate in a training institute on the program. If a facilitator is experienced, they can purchase the program (either version) and conduct them without training, since the curriculum materials describe exactly how to conduct the program. Free technical assistance is provided to facilitators whether they participate in a training institute or not.

Manual Information

There is a manual that describes how to deliver this program.

Program Manual(s)

Manual information:

• Brown, C., & Bavolek, S. (2017). 24:7 Dad® A.M. facilitator’s manual (3rd ed.). National Fatherhood Initiative®.

• Brown, C., Bavolek, S., et al. (2017). 24:7 Dad® P.M. facilitator’s manual (3rd ed.). National Fatherhood Initiative®.

Training Information

There is training available for this program.

Training Contact:

• National Fatherhood Initiative (NFI)
  store.fatherhood.org/trainings
  info@fatherhood.org
  phone: (301) 948-0599

Training Type/Location:

Custom on-site or webinar upon request of organization; National Fatherhood Initiative (NFI) also offers webinar-based trainings throughout the year. These can be accessed online at fatherhood.org or by contacting the training contact listed above.

NFI additionally provides ongoing, free technical assistance to organizations and individuals that acquire the program with or without formal training. There is no time limit for this assistance. NFI has several staff qualified to provide this assistance which covers all elements of successful program implementation (e.g., recruitment and retention, effective facilitation, and implementation with fidelity). NFI’s Father Engagement Academy™ is another source of support. It includes free and fee-based courses that can help with successful implementation.

Number of days/hours:

1-day (8 hour) and 2-day (16 hour) options; 4 hours for webinar-based trainings

Relevant Published, Peer-Reviewed Research

Additional References