Strengthening Families Evidence Review

Strategies to encourage father involvement are of increasing interest to policymakers. To provide information for individuals and organizations interested in supporting responsible fatherhood, the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation, in the Administration for Children and Families at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, contracted with Mathematica to conduct a systematic review of research on programs serving low-income fathers. The Strengthening Families Evidence Review includes studies with a range of designs, such as those that assess program effectiveness and those that report on program implementation only.

During the review process, the research team rated studies on the level of confidence that should be applied when assessing how well the research design can determine whether the program caused the reported participant outcomes. The team used three rating categories for studies that examine participant outcomes: high, moderate, and low. Studies that do not include participant outcomes are unrated.

Review results are available in a catalog of research, with study profiles for 63 programs. Mathematica also reviewed studies of a broader range of family strengthening programs.