title: What do men want from antenatal screening? Findings from an interview study in England.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  in the UK, midwives are facing a policy-drive to include men in antenatal care, and men will soon receive paternity leave to enable their involvement. As a result, more men will be able to attend screening, support women and participate in decision-making. We therefore conducted a timely exploration of what being involved means for men and what they want from antenatal screening and midwives.
  
  
  METHODS
  in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 12 men were carried out, mostly by telephone. Data were analysed using grounded theory.
  
  
  RESULTS
  we constructed three themes and showed that (1) in normal pregnancies, men knew little about screening, and were happy for midwives to take control during appointments, (2) in complicated pregnancies, men wanted to be more actively involved but some perceived that they faced suspicions of being coercive if voicing opinions, and (3) over time, men became more adept at communicating with midwives, but some disengaged from screening because of poor communication with midwives and/or a lack of faith in the benefits of screening.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  findings build on other studies to highlight the multiplicity of roles men play during screening. For men and women to reap the benefits of men's involvement in antenatal screening, good communication is required between midwives and couples. Communication training could help to improve care delivery and the relationships between men, women and midwives.
authors.affiliation: Clinical Ethics and Law, University of Southampton, Room AB 203, MP 801, Southampton General Hospital, South Academic Block, Tremona Road, Southampton SO16 6YD, UK. Electronic address: s.dheensa@soton.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Sandi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dheensa
authors.affiliation: Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery, King׳s College London, UK.
authors.forename: Prof Alison
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Metcalfe
authors.affiliation: Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery, King׳s College London, UK.
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Williams
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D005220:Fathers / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011296:Prenatal Diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D036301:Qualitative Research; D006113:United Kingdom
keywords: Antenatal diagnosis; Antenatal screening; Fathers; Men; Pregnancy