Evaluation of the Fathers Advancing Communities Together (FACT) Program

Responsible Fatherhood Programming Clinical Trial

Official title:

Evaluation of the Fathers Advancing Communities Together (FACT) Program

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Active, not recruiting

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT03143439
• Other study ID #: 09226-000-00
• Status: Active, not recruiting
• Start date: July 2016
• Est. completion date: September 2020

Study information

• Verified date: September 2020
• Source: Urban Institute
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Observational

Clinical Trial Summary

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.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Active, not recruiting
• Enrollment: 520
• Est. completion date: September 2020
• Est. primary completion date: September 30, 2019
• Gender: All
• Age group: 18 Years to 45 Years

Eligibility

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.

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Responsible Fatherhood Programming

Intervention

Behavioral:
• Fathers Advancing Communities Together (FACT) program
The FACT program offers fathers and their families responsible parenting, healthy relationship, and economic stability services and activities.

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
United States	Rubicon Programs	Richmond	California

Sponsors (2)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
Urban Institute	Rubicon Programs

Country where clinical trial is conducted

United States, 

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Other	Improvement in fathers' attitudes and perceptions of economic self-sufficiency, relationships, and parenting as measured by participant-level surveys, program data, and administrative data.	This outcome will capture how, due to FACT programming, participants' changes in attitudes and perceptions of their parenting, relationships, and economic stability were associated with changes in program-specific behaviors/outcomes, and the extent to which program components (e.g., classes and workshops) were associated with changes in fathers' attitudes, perceptions, and behaviors as measured by a participant survey. This outcome will draw on data collected from participant surveys, program data in Rubicon's Salesforce/ECM database, and administrative data from Rubicon's partners providing services to FACT participants. All of the above data points will be combined and linked, to the extent possible, to analyze individual-level data to assess participants' changes in their attitudes and perceptions of self-sufficiency, relationships, and parenting.	One year (baseline and one-year follow up)
Primary	Increases in child support payment modifications	The outcome is a dichotomous measure of whether the individual had any child support modifications between enrollment and 6-months post enrollment (1 = Yes; 0 = No).	6 months
Primary	Increases in monthly child support payment amounts	This outcome is a semi-continuous measure indicating the average dollar amount of monthly child support payments between enrollment and 6-months post enrollment in dollars	6 months
Primary	Increases in employment	This outcome is a dichotomous measure of whether the individual was employed at any point between enrollment and 6-months post enrollment (1 = Yes; 0 = No).	6 months
Primary	Increases in receipt of public assistance	This outcome is a dichotomous measure of whether an individual was on any public assistance (e.g., TANF and SNAP) at any point between enrollment and 6-months post enrollment (1 = Yes; 0 = No).	6 months
Secondary	Court orders	The outcome is a dichotomous measure of whether there was a new child support court order during the 6-month period after enrollment (1 = Yes; 0 = No).	6 months
Secondary	Amount of court orders	This outcome is a semi-continuous measure indicating the total dollar amounts of new court orders during the 6-month period after enrollment.	6 months
Secondary	Arrear	This outcome is a dichotomous measure of whether there was a new arrear (an open case with unpaid child support owed to the custodial parent) at 6-months post enrollment.	6 months
Secondary	Arrear balance	This outcome is a semi-continuous measure of the total balance of new arrears at 6-months post enrollment.	6 monhts
Secondary	Months on public assistance	This outcome measure is a count of the number of months individuals were on any public assistance during the 6-month period after enrollment.	6 months