“All About How You Couch It:” African American Fathers’ Visions of Interventions for their Sons

The current study seeks to contribute to the growing yet limited literature informing intervention development tailored for African American fathers of sons who are at-risk youth for depressive symptoms and aggressive behaviors. We conducted semi-structured, qualitative interviews with 30 self-identified, African American, biological fathers of pre-adolescent (8–12 years old) sons. Informed by grounded theory analysis methods, 13 themes emerged from the data. We organized the themes around five broad categories: Challenges to Participation, Intervention Content, Intervention Structure, Intervention Benefits, and Promoting the Intervention. In their own voices, fathers highlight their awareness of the uniquely racialized context in which they parent and their sons grow up. These findings provide context for and normalize African American fathers’ racial and gender socialization practices against a backdrop that often pathologizes Black men, fathers, and boys. The findings have direct implications for father-focused interventions: They highlight the importance of creating safe spaces for African American fathers to interact with each other and their sons, as well as the need to incorporate – or center– kinesthetic activities.