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Background
Although the continuum of pregnancy, childbirth, and the puerperium is commonly considered
a feminine event, the role of fatherhood and fathers’ participation in this context
is in transformation. Studies suggest that engagement of fathers in family health
services may confer benefits for both the father and the whole family. However, fathers
commonly feel excluded from family health, and attempts made to implement father engagement
strategies in these services have had limited success. The aim of this aspect of the
study was to explore perceptions and experiences of healthcare engagement in the pregnancy
and postnatal context.
Methods
Expectant and new fathers were recruited through Prolific, an international paid online
survey platform. The survey included free text questions to explore fathers’ attendance,
participation and experience of health care during appointments with their pregnant
partner and/or baby.
Results
The survey was completed by a culturally diverse population (n=889), 46.8% of whose
partners were pregnant and 53.2% had given birth since 2020. Experiences were reported
from a range of contexts and models of care across the 28 countries represented in
the sample. Although most fathers wanted to attend and participate in maternity and
early parenting-related healthcare, multiple barriers were identified at the individual
provider, contextual and organisational levels. Fathers reported negative social factors
such as gender bias and restrictive gender norms as barriers to their healthcare engagement.
In contrast, fathers’ experiences of confidence in the woman’s autonomy and decision-making
skills, trusted professional relationships with clinicians, and good clinician interpersonal
skills enabled transcendence from some of the barriers experienced.
Conclusion
Internationally, social, contextual and organisational barriers currently restrict
the participation of fathers in healthcare for childbearing and early parenting. Knowledge
of these barriers can inform healthcare redesign to include more successful engagement
strategies for fathers, to benefit fathers, partners and infants.
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Copyright
© 2022 Published by Elsevier Inc.
