Relationships and Future Fatherhood Programme for Young Incarcerated Men

Our proposed project seeks to address a range of complex issues that will help young incarcerated men develop positive, healthy relationships, and prepare for future fatherhood. The aim of the Relationships and Future Fatherhood intervention is to work with the young men to provide them with the information and skills they need that will: i) empower them to make healthier sexual and reproductive health decisions; ii) promote positive consensual relationships with partners and future partners; and iii) enable critical reflection upon the roles and responsibilities of fatherhood, and to plan future fatherhood in their lives. It is anticipated this will increase the young men's sense of responsibility and well-being, and motivate them to create and maintain for their children, a more positive childhood, in relation to fathering, than they themselves experienced.

This study is built around 3 work packages.
In Work package 1: We will use arts-based participatory methods to support and positively engage with young men from 2 prison sites (Northern Ireland & Scotland) over the life of the project. This is so the young men's expertise can also inform the intervention content and delivery. One of the unique characteristics of the programme is that it will include an interactive video drama (IVD - film), which we will make together with the young men and a professional media production company. We will all work together to develop a script and short scenarios for the film, based on what the young incarcerated men tell us in relation to their real life experiences around sex, relationship and parenting. The film will use a 'stop-and-think' strategy. That is, at various points the film will stop and articulate a question or dilemma that invites the user to imagine how they would react, and to make some decisions, if they were in a similar situation (the interactive component). We will also develop lesson plans (worksheets and activities) from the information the young men provide that will aid learning and group discussions as part of the programme. Our participatory approach ensures that the programme reflects real-life issues that resonate with the young men. This may help make the health messages real and help them think for themselves about the importance of relationships and fatherhood.

In Work Package 2: We will show the final products (IVD & Lesson Plans) to the young men and to prison and Barnardo's staff (delivery partners) in each site. We will interview them to gain their feedback on the programme to ensure it is fit-for-purpose and suitable to deliver in the two prison sites. The research team, in collaboration with the expert stakeholders group that includes representation from the Prison Services, Departments of Justice & Health, and other advocates for prisoner health and rehabilitation, will further develop the longer term sustainability of the intervention. We will then go back to the young men, prison and Barnardo's staff to check if they are happy with the intervention and assess (against progression rules) that the program is now feasible to progress to a pilot trial. The results of our inquiries will establish if the intervention is relevant, acceptable and implementable in the prison context.

In Work Package 3: We will prepare for the next stage evaluation of this programme, by working through details, with trial methodology and prison experts, on how best to assess the effectiveness of the intervention. Together, we will develop a Logic Model and appropriate Research Design to take our intervention forward for effectiveness testing. So, at the end of this study we will have developed an innovative programme for a marginalised group of young men in society which will be ready to test in a feasibility and pilot trial in 2 UK prison sites.

Young incarcerated men (YIM) are a marginalised group with profound health problems and socioeconomic disadvantage (1,2). One in four are fathers (3-5), many of whom may become estranged from their children when imprisoned. Paternal incarceration is a recognised risk factor for intergenerational continuity of offending behaviour and lack of opportunity (6-8). Our proposed intervention is aimed at those who are not yet fathers but may become fathers on leaving prison. This is timely given the UK government's policy shift to reform prisons as sites of rehabilitation and the need for targeted interventions to address this (9-13). The key to young men's rehabilitation is to develop their relationships and parenting skills by helping them understand the importance of fatherhood, and the difference 'good fathering' can make to their future children (14,15).

Using participatory methods we will co-produce an evidence-based, user-informed intervention with the YIM. This will include an original interactive video drama and lesson plans, informed through data gathered from them which brings to life realistic scenarios about sexual and mental health, relationships and fatherhood. We seek to improve their sexual and mental health and competence to parent through reflecting on the roles, responsibilities, challenges and consequences. The YIM will gain a better understanding of how their choices impact on their wellbeing and that of their partners and children.

In conclusion, we will create a unique intervention, made with YIM for YIM, which addresses gaps in their understanding around sex, relationships and parenting. Our team are experts in relationships, sexuality and parenting education, and delivering public health interventions within prisons. In partnership with stakeholders from prisons, probation services and senior policy makers in Scotland and Northern Ireland, we will also test and develop methods for a feasibility trial to assess and evaluate the intervention

We first describe our two short-term impact aims and how we seek to achieve them.

AIM 1: Empower young incarcerated men to reflect on their lives and the choices they make by focusing on the importance of relationships and future fatherhood and to empower them to have an input into an intervention that will be potentially affecting their peers.

We will achieve this impact by working in partnership with young incarcerated men to create the Relationships and Future Fatherhood Programme. The project begins by the research team conducting workshops with the young men in two prison sites, one in each jurisdiction, Hydebank (NI) and HMP Polmont (Scotland) - work package 1. This will facilitate knowledge exchange from the outset and will help ensure that the intervention is meaningful and tailored to meet the needs of the target population.

We will be engaging in this co-production of the Relationships and Future Fatherhood intervention by facilitating young incarcerated men's contribution in terms of:
i) Helping to build the content of the programme, based on the challenges and their hopes of future fatherhood in their lives.
ii) Highlighting key priorities, messages and information that needs to be shared.
iii) Advising on design of the programme and medium of communication to engage with the target population.
iv) Informing the research team on how we speak about their lives and what works best to improve their lives in our communications to policy makers (for example in our two-minute video about the project).

Our prior work to date working with young men in prisons, exploring these issues in their lives and in co-producing resources (Pilot Study of If I were Jack & Burdett funded study exploring sexual health needs with young men in prison - see Case for Support, Section 4) suggests that this engagement with young incarcerated men, together with sharing back the results with them, is very positively received. For example, some young men have posted their paper certificates of completing 'If I were Jack' on their cell walls. See our youth-friendly report to deliver back to young men in prison on how they contributed (https://goo.gl/Bom0Bd).

We will also work in partnership with our delivery partners, Barnardo's and prison staff who are members of the Stakeholders group and will contribute to the research. This ensures we produce an intervention that is deliverable and sustainable, and importantly, one that they feel they have ownership of and may choose to deliver to young men as part of their professional daily services in the future.


AIM 2: Policy makers will rely on our evidence on the importance of relationships and building capacity for future fatherhood in the rehabilitation of young offenders.

We have a clear communication plan to engage with policy makers from the outset as we develop the programme in the following ways:
i) Inclusion of key policy makers on our Stakeholders Group that will meet 3 times by SKYPE over the course of the project.
ii) Seminars in Parliament -We will deliver seminars to the NI Assembly Knowledge Exchange Seminar Series and the Scottish Parliament Universities Knowledge Exchange Network towards the end of the project.
iii) Bring policy makers into the prisons: Invite policy makers to a 'Future Fathers' Father's Day event in each prison at the end of project.
iv) One page summaries: Produce two, 1-page summaries to distribute to broader networks of policy makers not on our stakeholders group one at the start of the project and one at the end of the project, along with a 2 minute information video at end of project.
v) Accessible digital media: We will produce a dedicated website, social media engagement and an article in The Conversation.

Longer Term Impact
Our longer term goals are to positively impact on the lives of men and their families through delivery and evaluation of this programme in co-operation with our delivery partners Barnardo's.