Since early experiences are vital for children, parents, as the most important providers of early experiences, play a crucial role in children’s healthy development and future success. Research results reveal that parent involvement in childcare and in their children’s early school experiences contributes significantly to children’s future academic achievement and other favorable developmental outcomes such as positive attitudes toward school, positive self-concept, responsive classroom behavior, and motivation. One of the most important findings on early parent involvement is that the parents of disadvantaged children can make a positive contribution to their children’s achievement and healthy development if these parents receive education, guidance and encouragement in the types of parent involvement that can make a difference (Altun et al., 2007; Trumbull et al., 2001). For numerous reasons, however, low-income parents are often underrepresented among the ranks of parents involved in the parent education programs and with their children’s schools (Cotton & Wikelund, 1989). Another concern related to this research topic is the scarcity of father education in non-western cultural settings. Although there is a large literature on parent education and involvement in the Western cultural settings, in Turkish cultural settings very little is known about this issue. This study, thus, should add to our knowledge of the effectiveness of father education programs from perspective of a non-Western society. Therefore, the present study will enable researchers to compare Western with a non-Western culture in terms of data on parent education programs directed to low-income fathers.

The basic problem addressed in this study is the lack of parent education programs directly tailored for low-income parents, especially fathers, and low-income fathers’ unwillingness in involving in parent education programs. Thus, the purpose of this research was to study the impacts of a father education program on low-income fathers’ behaviors and attitudes regarding childcare.

Trumbull, E., Rothstein-Fisch, C., Greenfield, P.M., & Quiroz, B. (2001). Bridging cultures between home and school: A guide for teachers. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. Cotton, K., & Wikelund, K. (1989, May). Parent involvement in education, a report for the Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI).