BACKGROUND Fathers are under-represented in research and programs addressing early childhood health and development. Recruiting fathers into these interventions can be hampered for multiple reasons, including recruitment and retention strategies that are not tailored for fathers. The primary aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis is to determine the effectiveness of recruitment and retention strategies used to include fathers of children (from conception to age 36 months) in intervention studies. The secondary aim is to investigate study-level factors that may influence recruitment and retention. METHODS We will conduct searches for scholarly peer-reviewed randomized controlled trials, quasi-experimental studies, and pre-post studies that recruited fathers using the following databases: MEDLINE (Ovid), EMBASE (Ovid), PsycINFO (Ovid), and CINAHL. English-language articles will be eligible if they recruited self-identified fathers of children from conception to age 36 months for health-promoting interventions that target healthy parents and children. Two reviewers will independently screen titles/abstracts and full texts for inclusion, as well as grading methodological quality. Recruitment and retention proportions will be calculated for each study. Where possible, we will calculate pooled proportional effects with 95% confidence intervals using random-effects models and conduct a meta-regression to examine the impact of potential modifiers of recruitment and retention. DISCUSSION Findings from this review will help inform future intervention research with fathers to optimally recruit and retain participants. Identifying key factors should enable health researchers and program managers design and adapt interventions to increase the likelihood of increasing father engagement in early childhood health interventions. Researchers will be able to use this review to inform future research that addresses current evidence gaps for the recruitment and retention of fathers. This review will make recommendations for addressing key target areas to improve recruitment and retention of fathers in early childhood health research, ultimately leading to a body of evidence that captures the full potential of fathers for maximizing the health and wellbeing of their children. SYSTEMATIC REVIEW REGISTRATION PROSPERO CRD42018081332.

中文翻译：

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在早期儿童健康干预研究中招募和保留有年幼子女的父亲：系统的审查和荟萃分析方案。

背景技术在针对幼儿健康和发展的研究和计划中，父亲的代表性不足。可能由于多种原因而阻碍了将父亲招募到这些干预措施中，其中包括并非为父亲量身定制的招募和保留策略。这项系统的综述和荟萃分析的主要目的是确定招募和保留策略的有效性，该策略用于在干预研究中纳入儿童的父亲（从怀孕到36个月大）。次要目的是研究可能影响招募和保留的研究水平因素。方法我们将使用以下数据库搜索招募父亲的学术同行评审随机对照试验，准实验研究和事前研究：MEDLINE（Ovid），EMBASE（Ovid），PsycINFO（Ovid），和CINAHL。如果英语文章招募了从受孕到36个月大的自认儿童父亲，以针对健康父母和孩子的健康促进干预措施，则将符合资格。两名审稿人将独立筛选标题/摘要和全文以供收录，以及对方法学质量进行评级。将为每个研究计算招聘和保留比例。在可能的情况下，我们将使用随机效应模型以95％的置信区间计算合并的比例效应，并进行元回归分析以检查潜在的招聘和保留因素的影响。讨论本次审查的发现将有助于将来与父亲进行干预研究，以最佳地招募和留住参与者。确定关键因素应使卫生研究人员和项目经理能够设计和调整干预措施，以增加父亲参与幼儿健康干预措施的可能性。研究人员将能够使用此评论来为将来的研究提供信息，该研究解决了当前有关招募和留住父亲的证据方面的空白。这项审查将为解决关键目标领域方面的建议提供建议，以改善早期儿童健康研究中父亲的招募和留任率，最终产生大量证据，充分挖掘父亲在最大程度地提高其孩子的健康和福祉方面的潜力。系统审查注册PROSPERO CRD42018081332。研究人员将能够使用此评论来为将来的研究提供信息，该研究解决了当前有关招募和留住父亲的证据方面的空白。这项审查将为解决关键目标领域方面的建议提供建议，以改善早期儿童健康研究中父亲的招募和留任率，最终产生大量证据，充分挖掘父亲在最大程度地提高其孩子的健康和福祉方面的潜力。系统审查注册PROSPERO CRD42018081332。研究人员将能够使用此评论来为将来的研究提供信息，该研究解决了当前有关招募和留住父亲的证据方面的空白。这项审查将为解决关键目标领域方面的建议提供建议，以改善早期儿童健康研究中父亲的招募和留任率，最终产生大量证据，充分挖掘父亲在最大程度地提高其孩子的健康和福祉方面的潜力。系统审查注册PROSPERO CRD42018081332。最终产生了一系列证据，充分利用了父亲最大程度地发挥其子女的健康和福祉的潜力。系统审查注册PROSPERO CRD42018081332。最终产生了一系列证据，充分利用了父亲最大程度地发挥其子女的健康和福祉的潜力。系统审查注册PROSPERO CRD42018081332。