Reaching Dads: Community Co-Designed Implementation Strategies for Fathers/Men

OVERVIEW

This project designed and evaluated a community-based approach to supporting fathers’ mental health in resource-constrained settings mirroring natural helpseeking. We first sought to understand help-seeking and then design and refine strategies for reaching and engaging men. This has consisted of a series of studies including formative work on help seeking (Patel, et al., 2021); designing and evaluating implementation and treatment strategies in LEAD focused (e.g., motivational interviewing, behavioral activation, and open discussion of masculinity; Giusto et al., 2021); and community-sourced review and interviews of implementation strategies focused on sustainability to further refine delivery (Giusto et al., 2024).

ELDORET, KENYA

Project Goals

IDENTIFY

Identify barriers and facilitators that shape fathers engagement.

UNDERSTAND

Understand how family dynamics, cultural values, and community norms influence men’s engagement, help-seeking behaviors, and caregiving roles.

DEVELOP

Develop scalable, culturally responsive implementation and intervention strategies to engage and reach fathers.

TRAIN

Recruit and train respected peer-fathers to serve as lay counselors who model positive masculinity, support behavior change, and reduce stigma.

SUSTAIN

Identify best practices in counselor selection, training, supervision, and community integration to ensure sustainability and effectiveness across contexts.

Turning Community Insight Into Measurable Impact

Harmful drinking accounts for 7.6% of male deaths globally each year, yet men seek mental health treatment at rates four times lower than women. By training peer-fathers as lay counselors, this project shows a feasible, community-driven pathway to close this gap and improve family well-being.
By understanding the cultural, family, and community factors that shape men’s engagement in care, this project lays the groundwork for scalable interventions that improve fathers’ mental health and strengthen families.
- Giusto, A., Johnson, S., Lovero, K., Rono, W., Wainberg, M., Ayuku, D., & Puffer, E. S. (2021). Building community-based helping practices by training peer-father counselors: conducting a novel intervention to reduce drinking and depressed mood among fathers through a healthy masculinity lens. International Journal of Drug Policy.
- Giusto, A., Jack, H.E., Magidson, J., Ayuku, D., Johnson, S. +, Lovero, K., Hankerson, S., Sweetland, A., Myers, B., Fortunato dos Santos, P., Puffer, E.S., & Wainberg, M.L. (2023). Global is local: Leveraging global mental health methods to promote equity and address disparities in the United States. Clinical Psychological Science.
- Giusto, A., Jaguga, F°., Pereira-Sanchez, V., Rono, W., Triplett, N.+, Rukh-E-Qamar+, Parker, M.+, & Wainberg, M. (2023). Barriers and Facilitators to Father's Engagement in a Depression and Alcohol Use Intervention in Kenya: Father, Family, and Community Factors. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.