Elsevier

Midwifery

Volume 50, July 2017, Pages 86-92
Midwifery

First-time fathers experiences of their prenatal preparation in relation to challenges met in the early parenthood period: Implications for early parenthood preparation

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.midw.2017.03.021Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Fathers lacked active guidance from professionals to access reliable information.

  • Fathers want to find prenatal strategies to deal with the life-change a infant brings.

  • Focus on fathers’ relation with their infant may enhance their parental preparation.

  • An important concern is lack of acknowledgement of fathers as equal parents.

  • Multiple pedagogical approaches to parental preparation should be applied.

Abstract

Objective

to describe first-time fathers experiences of their prenatal preparation in relation to challenges met in the early parenthood period.

Design

a qualitative study was conducted and data was analysed with a phenomenographical approach.

Setting and participants

15 first-time fathers were recruited from three postnatal units in southern Sweden and interviewed approximately one month after their baby was born.

Measurements and findings

three categories and 14 conceptions about fathers’ experiences of their preparation emerged from the data.Acquiring knowledge and forming realistic expectations’ was essential for ‘Developing strategies’ and ‘Being facilitated and supported’ enhanced these processes.

Key conclusions and implications for practice

supporting fathers to develop strategies for life with a new baby and providing expert guidance to fruitful and accurate information may help the construction of a fatherhood identity and strengthen the fatherhood role. The findings can be used to develop a parental preparation for early parenthood that will correspond to fathers’ needs.

Introduction

The transition to fatherhood is a challenging time, which has been described as an emotional roller coaster (Asenhed et al., 2014). Though it is the mother-to-be who is physically pregnant both parents are equally expectant and are of equal importance for their child (WHO, 2007). Earlier studies have shown that fathers want to be involved already from the beginning of pregnancy but often feel ignored by health care staff (Deave et al., 2008b, Wells, 2016a). It has also been shown that postnatally, fathers wish that they had been better prepared for the period after childbirth (Entsieh and Hallström, 2016; Wells, 2016).

Involvement of the father in the parenthood process affects attachment to the child (Sarkadi et al., 2008). It has also been shown that increased involvement of men in maternity care increases the mother's, father's and child's wellbeing (de Montigny and Lacharite, 2004, WHO, 2007, Persson and Dykes, 2009). Involvement of the father is also a priority for the mother according to a recent Swedish study (Widarsson et al., 2015) and both mothers and fathers consider their partner as their greatest source of support (Widarsson et al., 2012). Researchers in Australia have pointed out the importance of focusing on both parents’ experiences separately, in order to strengthen them as individuals as well as parents and families (Fletcher et al., 2008, May and Fletcher, 2013). Therefore attention should be given also to the father-to-be from the beginning of pregnancy.

The early parenthood period is a time of insecurity where parents strive for confidence (Nilsson et al., 2015). Parents’ experiences of the early parenthood period are affected by the information that they are given before the birth, about the early postnatal period (Premberg and Lundgren, 2006, Bergström et al., 2011, Persson et al., 2011, Persson et al., 2012). A sense of security is important during the first postnatal week, for parents as individuals, as a couple, for their start as parents and for the baby's wellbeing (Fredriksson et al., 2003, Persson et al., 2007). Swedish research has shown that antenatal preparation for the early parenthood period influences parents’ postnatal sense of security and that antenatal care providers have an important role to play in including both parents in the preparation (Erlandsson and Häggström-Nordin, 2010, Persson et al., 2011, Persson et al., 2012).

Parental preparation, most commonly delivered in the form of antenatal education classes is offered in many countries worldwide, but there is no consensus on content or structure for the preparation, making it difficult to evaluate (Gagnon and Sandall, 2007). In Sweden, parental preparation classes have, since late 1970s, been provided mainly by midwives at antenatal clinics, usually in the third trimester of pregnancy. The purpose of these activities, to which both parents are invited to participate, is to prepare couples for the birth and for their roles as parents. Today, the form in which preparation is provided in Sweden varies considerably, from small group courses to large public meetings and there is no set number of meetings that are included in a course. Approximately 71% of first-time mothers and 64% of their partners attend preparation classes during pregnancy (The Swedish Pregnancy Register, 2014). Criticism has been raised both in Sweden and in other countries that antenatal education classes mainly target those who are socioeconomically advantaged (Lu et al., 2003; Fabian et al., 2004).

Social factors, culture and gender may affect parental roles (Ny et al., 2008). Sweden has a tradition of working for gender equality and offers generous parental leave with the possibility to share equally between the parents. There is a body of research on fatherhood and fathers’ views of their role; however the present study seeks to understand which factors fathers identify as important for their preparation when viewed from the reality of early fatherhood. In order to evaluate current practice and develop new models for parental preparation it is vital to gain insight into Swedish parents’ perspectives on their needs for preparation for early parenting. The present study aims to describe first-time fathers experiences of their prenatal preparation in relation to challenges met in the early parenthood period. The term early parenthood period in this study refers to the first month after the baby is born.

Section snippets

Design

A phenomenographical approach was chosen for this study in order to capture variations in first-time fathers’ experiences of their prenatal preparation in relation to challenges met in the early parenthood period. Phenomenography aims to discern and describe peoples’ different ways of experiencing or perceiving phenomena in the world around them. The focus of interest in phenomenography is on the experience of the phenomenon not on the phenomenon itself and emphasises that different people have

Findings

Three categories and 14 conceptions describing first-time fathers’ experiences of their preparation for early parenthood emerged from the analysis (Table 3).

Acquiring knowledge and forming realistic expectations was essential for Developing strategies and Being facilitated and supported enhanced these processes.

Discussion

The most interesting findings in the present study were related to the fathers’ needs for guidance in obtaining relevant information that would help them develop a fatherhood identity and prepare them for the early postnatal period. This finding indicates that antenatal preparation for situations ahead, that fathers have no previous experience of, differ from parental support after the baby has been born, when focus is on support in current situations. Fathers had experienced difficulties in

Funding

This study was supported by grants from FORTE [Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare; grant number 2013–2101].

Acknowledgement

The authors would like to thank all fathers who participated in this study by sharing their experiences. Further to thank the staff and heads at the postnatal units who assisted in recruitment. We extend our gratitude to Professor Margret Lepp and the research seminar group for phenomenographic studies at Gothenburg University for valuable comments on the analysis and to members of the research group Child, family & reproductive health at Lund University for valuable advice and comments on the

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