The experience of Middle Eastern men living in Sweden of maternal and child health care and fatherhood: focus-group discussions and content analysis.
OBJECTIVE
To describe how men from the Middle East experience Swedish maternity and child health care. An integral part of the aim of this study has also been to describe the experiences of men from the Middle East when becoming and being a father in Sweden.


METHODS
an exploratory, qualitative study using focus-group discussions and individual interviews, with a semi-structured interview guide and content analysis. A total of 16 men participated. Ten Arabic-speaking men from the Middle East living in Sweden participated in three focus-group discussions. Six men from the Middle East living in Sweden, and speaking Swedish, participated in individual interviews.


RESULTS
three main categories were developed: meeting empathic professionals; finding new positions within the family; and experiencing social demands.


CONCLUSIONS
seeing their partners being met individually and with empathy by midwives and child health-care nurses encouraged men to become involved in areas not previously open to them (i.e. pregnancy, childbirth and the care of babies and young children). As the women often lacked knowledge of Swedish, they depended on the help of their partners when meeting maternity and child health-care professionals. The men found the experience of living in an alien country difficult. They were often unemployed, felt they were a burden to their wives after emigrating to Sweden, and that they were no longer a suitable role model for their children.
Ny
Pernilla
P
Department of Health and Society, S-20506 Malmö, Malmö University, Sweden. pernilla.ny@hs.mah.se
Plantin
Lars
L
Dejin-Karlsson
Elisabeth
E
Dykes
Anna-Karin
AK
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health / Q000208:ethnology*; D002648:Child; D002662:Child Health Services; D002675:Child, Preschool; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants / Q000523:psychology; D005195:Family Relations; D005220:Fathers / Q000523:psychology; D017144:Focus Groups; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008427:Maternal Health Services; D008877:Middle East / Q000208:ethnology; D011368:Professional-Family Relations; D013548:Sweden; D016746:Transcultural Nursing