Involving Fathers in the Delivery of Psychological Services

Although fathers play a significant role in children’s lives, they are not routinely involved in psychological services for children’s problems. The purpose of this special section is to consider strategies that may be helpful in engaging fathers in psychological services to address their children’s problems. The articles examine barriers to father involvement and suggest decision-making strategies to weigh the costs and benefits of father involvement. Interventions are proposed to promote coparenting in separated and divorced families and the use of cognitive approaches to expand the masculine role. Programs for maltreating fathers are described, and initiatives to involve men in violence prevention are presented.