253844 Identifying a Conceptual Approach for Assessing the Influence of Father Involvement on Maternal and Child Health

Monday, October 31, 2011: 12:30 PM

Carl V. Hill, PhD, MPH , National Children's Study Program Office, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Bethesda, MD
Research that assesses the influence of fathers on maternal and child health has been relatively limited. While there has been some progress in the analysis of father involvement in understanding child cognitive development, there are opportunities for public health researchers to further examine the role of father involvement in determining maternal and child health. The National Children's Study, for example, presents an opportunity to collect broad information on father involvement, which may ultimately lead to valuable advances in knowledge about its impact on maternal and child health. However, this data collection and analysis must be informed by conceptual approaches that provide a sound framework for interpreting analytic results. The purpose of this presentation is to describe a conceptual approach for measuring father involvement and to discuss the various types of analytic strategies that this approach may inform.

Learning Areas:
Public health or related public policy
Public health or related research
Social and behavioral sciences

Learning Objectives:
1. Discuss various conceptual approaches for considering the influence of father involvement on maternal and child health 2. Identify relevant analytic strategies for addressing the influence of father involvement on maternal and child health. 3. Describe findings from relevant National Children’s Study formative research projects that may inform the selection of a conceptual approach to guide research on father involvement.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am qualified to present because I serve as the domain lead for father involvement for the National Children’s Study’s Program Office.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.