Parenting and Men's Health: The Utility of the Fathers and Sons Program

 描述（由申请人提供）：尽管非裔美国人的药物滥用和抑郁症等问题具有公共卫生意义，但很少有基于证据的预防策略针对这些男性，甚至更少的人关注利用他们作为父亲的角色来保护他们免受不良健康后果的策略。本申请建议严格评估父亲和儿子计划的有效性，以减少抑郁症和饮酒行为，增加非居民非裔美国人父亲的物质使用和心理健康服务利用率。它侧重于提高父亲的育儿知识、态度和行为、与儿子的联系以及对社区资源的认识和利用。这个以理论为基础，性别特异性，文化相关，以家庭为中心的计划最初旨在提高非居民非裔美国人父亲的育儿态度和行为，并加强他们与青春期前儿子的关系，以防止青少年危险行为。它是使用基于社区的参与性研究（CBPR）方法开发的，以增加其相关性和对目标受众的吸引力。初步证据表明，该计划也有望改善父亲的健康行为和福祉。我们的目标是进行一项随机对照试验，以评估该计划对父亲双方的长期健康益处 和儿子们最初的父亲和儿子干预计划的结果将与对照组进行比较，对照组将接受以家庭为基础的计划，重点是体育活动和营养。因为父亲和儿子一起参加了父亲和儿子的计划，我们将有额外的好处，研究如何影响父亲的养育态度和行为影响他们的儿子的健康行为，提供代际观点对男性的健康。

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Despite the public health significance of problems such as substance abuse and depression among African American men, few evidence-based prevention strategies have been developed for these men and even fewer have focused on a strategy that uses their role as a father as a protection against poor health outcomes. This application proposes to rigorously evaluate the effectiveness of the Fathers and Sons Program for reducing depression and drinking behavior and increasing substance use and mental health service utilization among nonresident African American fathers. It focuses on enhancing fathers' parenting knowledge, attitudes and behaviors, connectedness with their sons, and awareness and use of community resources. This theoretically-based, gender-specific, culturally relevant, family-centered program was originally designed to enhance parenting attitudes and behaviors among nonresident African American fathers and strengthen their relationship with their preadolescent sons as a way to prevent youth risky behaviors. It was developed using a community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach to increase its relevance and appeal to the intended audiences. Preliminary evidence suggests the program is promising for improving health behaviors and well-being among fathers as well. Our goal is to conduct a randomized control trial to evaluate the program for its long-term health benefits for both fathers and sons. The results of the original Fathers and Sons intervention program will be compared to a control group that will receive a family-based program focused on physical activity and nutrition. Because fathers and sons participate in the Fathers and Sons programs together, we will have the added benefit of examining how influencing father's parenting attitudes and behaviors affect their sons' health behaviors, offering intergenerational perspectives on men's health.