# Engaging Male Caregivers in Effective Prevention Programming to Reduce Risk of Violence and Violence-Related Injury

> **NIH ALLCDC R01** · FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY · 2022 · $349,949

## Abstract

Abstract
Fathers are disproportionately involved in and responsible for child maltreatment and violence directed toward
children and family members, as the average amount of time spent with their children each day is less than
that of mothers (Hoffreth et al., 2002; Straus et al., 1998). Forty percent of maltreatment cases include the
child's father (US DHHS, 2011), which is actually quite considerable when one considers mothers spend more
time with the child during the day and engage in a greater variety of activities, relative to fathers. Contrary to
these potential negative impacts, fathers contribute positively to many aspects of child development and
overall family functioning, making unique contributions to child peer relationships, language development,
academic skills, and the proficiency of the other parent in parenting tasks. There are many potential prevention
programs that have been developed to support male caregivers, including the Nurturing Fathers program
(Bavolek, Comstock, & McLaughlin, 1983) and the Coaching Our Children: Heightening Essential Skills
program (COACHES; Caserta Fabiano et al., 2018; Chacko, Fabiano, et al., 2017; Fabiano et al., 2012;
Fabiano et al., 2009) are two examples of father-focused preventive intervention efforts. However, these
approaches have not typically been evaluated as preventive interventions in community-based samples using
scientifically rigorous methods (e.g., Smith et al., 2015). Thus, the present study aims to evaluate the
effectiveness of these approaches in reducing family violence and improving male caregiver competencies in a
randomized, controlled trial. One hundred forty-four male caregivers of a 3-6 year old child will be randomly
assigned to (1) the Nurturing Fathers program (N=48); (2) Nurturing Fathers + COACHES integrated (N=48);
or (3) an attention control (N=48). Participants will engage in eight weeks of prevention intervention and then
have evaluations at post-treatment and 1-month follow-up.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10493049
- **Project number:** 5R01CE003341-02
- **Recipient organization:** FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** GREGORY A FABIANO
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** ALLCDC
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $349,949
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2021-09-30 → 2024-09-29

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10493049

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10493049, Engaging Male Caregivers in Effective Prevention Programming to Reduce Risk of Violence and Violence-Related Injury (5R01CE003341-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10493049. Licensed CC0.

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