title: Men's involvement in antenatal care and labour: rethinking a medical model.
abstract: In the UK, putative fathers are encouraged to be involved in antenatal and maternal health care, in the belief that involving men as early as possible lays the foundation for better, more involved fatherhood. Integrating men into maternity care can, however, have hitherto unexplored ethical complexities. We begin by providing three ethical justifications for involving men in antenatal and maternity health care, and then discuss how each necessarily constrains the nature of this involvement. The medical setting itself creates some of the difficulties. This observation leads us into a broader exploration of the medicalisation of men's transition to fatherhood.
authors.affiliation: Medicine, Ethics, Society and History, 90 Vincent Drive, School of Health and Population Sciences, The University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK. h.draper@bham.ac.uk
authors.forename: Heather
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Draper
authors.forename: Jonathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ives
mesh_terms: D003256:Community Participation / Q000379:methods / Q000523:psychology; D004505:Education, Nonprofessional / Q000941:ethics / Q000379:methods; D005220:Fathers; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008427:Maternal Health Services; D016487:Parenting / Q000523:psychology*; D036801:Parturition / Q000523:psychology*; D010332:Paternal Behavior; D011050:Policy Making; D011247:Pregnancy; D011295:Prenatal Care / Q000941:ethics / Q000523:psychology; D012944:Social Support