ABSTRACT

The purpose of this thesis was to organize dad-child groups for fathers and their children. The work was commissioned by the local social welfare office. Mannerheim League for Child Welfare also contributed to this thesis project. The aim of this thesis was to find out how a dad- child group affects father-child interaction and to identify to dad-child group the importance of fathers. The target group of this thesis included fathers, who had participated in dad-child group activities during the spring 2013.

The task was to get a comprehensive picture of the fathers’ thoughts on a dad- child group, participating in the activities and the importance of the group for them. The data were collected based on a questionnaire, which was distributed to the responding by e-mail after the last session. The questionnaire was answered by five fathers. The data were analyzed with content analysis.

According to the results, the dad-child groups activities sparked positive thoughts. Dads enjoyed being together with other children and fathers. On of most important activities was spending time with their children. According to the results, fathers and their children got variation together normal everyday life through attending dad-child groups.

Fathers thought that the group did not affect directly the father- child relationship, because they did a lot of things together anyway. However all the fathers wanted to continue to attend the dad-child group in the future.