Research project detail

The Strengths and Support Needs of Fathers with an Intellectual Disability

This project will explore the strengths and support needs of fathers with learning difficulties, examine the supports and strategies currently offered by services, and it will develop  a strategy to help agencies meet the parenting needs of fathers with learning difficulties.

Rationale

There is limited research about the needs of fathers with learning difficulties and the resources available to them. Fathers are an often-ignored group in research and intervention. Most discussion of fathers in the parenting with disability literature is in the context of their role as a supportive partner to the mother, or as a problematic presence in the family (e.g. regarding domestic violence, or as predators to vulnerable women). However, in many cases fathers with learning difficulties have an active parenting role, and are a positive support to mothers with learning difficulties in raising their children.

This project will examine approaches currently used by services to engage fathers with learning difficulties. It will also explore barriers identified by professionals and agencies to involve fathers with learning difficulties in services. The project will also develop a strategy to support agencies to better engage with these fathers.

The aims of this project will be examined across the following two phases:

Phase 1: Exploration

• Identify and document the strengths and support needs of fathers with learning difficulties. 
• Identify the supports that service providers currently offer to fathers with learning difficulties and those supports they feel fathers require.
• Identify barriers that service providers believe exist to fathers with learning difficulties receiving effective support.
• Examine service providers’ perspectives about the parenting role of fathers with learning difficulties.

Phase 2: Strategy development and consultation

• Develop a strategy aimed at supporting the parenting needs of fathers with learning difficulties.
• Consult professionals working to support fathers about the acceptability and usefulness of the resource.

Method

Phase 1
In addition to a comprehensive review of the literature on fathers with learning difficulties, a qualitative approach using 1:1 in-depth interviews will be employed to identify service providers’ perspectives about what constitutes effective support for fathers with  learning difficulties, barriers to fathers receiving support, and views about the parenting role of fathers with learning difficulties. The findings will be used to inform the development of effective supports aimed at achieving positive outcomes for fathers with learning difficulties.

Phase 2
A strategy to help service providers engage fathers with learning difficulty will be developed in consultation with fathering experts and professionals who work closely with fathers with learning difficulties. Professionals will be consulted to investigate the utility and acceptability of the tailored engagement strategy.

Results

Results from in-depth interviews conducted at phase one with 14 practitioners from metro and rural agencies suggest that few fathers with learning difficulties were accessing and receiving services. Effective supports to father inclusion identified by practitioners included:

• flexible practice
• informal contact with fathers
• practical, child-focused intervention
• support tailored to individual learning needs and use of clear, concise, fun resources and materials
• the development of a genuine rapport between practitioner and participant.

Barriers to fathers’ involvement in services included fathers being unfamiliar with service options, previous negative experiences with services, female-centred care and gender stereotypes diminishing fathers’ parenting role.

In phase two, a resource has been developed to support the parenting needs of fathers with learning difficulties, in consultation with fathering experts and professionals in the field. The resource aims to help services and practitioners engage with fathers with learning difficulties and to challenge stereotypes by applying father-inclusive practice strategies to this highly marginalised group.

Research team

• Dr Catherine Wade
• Shannon Bennetts

Contact

Dr Catherine Wade
E: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
P: +61 3 8660 3514

Funding

Australian Government Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs

Advisory group member

• University of Sydney
• Dr Richard Fletcher (University of Newcastle)

Ethics

• Victorian Government Department of Human Services Human Research Ethics Committee
• Parenting Research Centre Human Research Ethics Committee

Reports/Publications

In preparation