A qualitative investigation into the pregnancy experiences and childbirth expectations of Australian fathers-to-be.
OBJECTIVE
To explore and describe men's experiences of pregnancy and childbirth expectations.


BACKGROUND
There remains limited work exploring expectant father's perspectives.


METHODS
Qualitative descriptive design. Twelve Australian expectant fathers participated in between 1 and 2 interviews during pregnancy and 1 after childbirth (32 in total). Six fathers also chose to submit a number of diary entries via e-mail. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data set.


RESULTS
Five themes emerged from the data. The themes pregnancy news: heralds profound change adjusting to pregnancy, and birth looming described how men processed the news of pregnancy, worked to accept their changed circumstances and negotiated the final week of the pregnancy. A fourth theme, labelled Feeling sidelined, outlined men's experiences of antenatal care and their feeling of isolation as a result of largely feeling ignored by health care professionals. The fifth theme represents men's childbirth expectations.


CONCLUSIONS
Adjusting to the news of a pregnancy was a potentially unsettling time for an expectant father that was often associated with increased apprehension and anxiety. Regardless of whether they were a first or once again father most men engaged in a level of emotional work to come to terms with and accept the pregnancy. Understanding men's antenatal experiences and anxieties is an important step in the development of preventative paternal perinatal mental health measures. The significance of this work is situated within the reality that men's wellbeing is associated with maternal psychological well-being, positive peri-natal experiences and child development.
School of Nursing and Midwifery, Maternity and Family Unit, Research Centre for Clinical and Community Practice Innovation, Griffith Health Institute, Griffith University, University Drive, Meadowbrook, Gold Coast Hospital, Queensland 4131, Australia. j.fenwick@griffith.edu.au
Jennifer
J
Fenwick
Sara
S
Bayes
Margareta
M
Johansson
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety; D001315:Australia; D004644:Emotions; D005220:Fathers / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health; D036801:Parturition / Q000523:psychology*; D011247:Pregnancy / Q000523:psychology; D011295:Prenatal Care; D036301:Qualitative Research