Fatherhood and Reproductive Health in the Antenatal Period: From Men’s Voices to Clinical Practice

Abstract

There is very limited literature on the experiences of fathers during Obstetric prenatal care (PNC), especially hearing from fathers’ voices directly. The MGH Fatherhood Project conducted two annual surveys—data combined for analysis—of all fathers who accompanied their partners to prenatal care visits over 2-week periods at a large, tertiary-care urban hospital in Boston, MA. The anonymous, voluntary close-ended survey was offered in multiple languages and self-administered on iPads.Results: Nine hundred fifty nine fathers participated, 86% of attending fathers, possibly making the study the largest research sample of fathers in PNC. Fathers are actively and deeply engaged with the impending birth; they have substantial physical health needs (obesity, family planning and lack of primary care), and mental health needs (stress, depressive symptoms, and personal isolation). Fathers perceived they were well treated during the PNC visit, but were desirous of more reproductive, relational, and infant health information and skills, which they preferred to receive from publications, social media, or health professionals; and they were very supportive of PNC fatherhood initiatives.Discussion: The results suggest five sets of practical recommendations to create a more father-friendly environment in Obstetric care-Staff Training; Father-Friendly Clinic Environment; Explicit Affirmation of Father Inclusion; Development of Educational Materials; and Specialized Father-Focused Health Initiatives, all with the goal of improving reproductive health outcomes for families.

A call to action: Taking the untenable out of women professors’ pregnancy, postpartum, and caregiving demands

“…As such, support for men caregivers must be part of the equation when considering gender equality in academia. Indeed, research suggests that when fathers are more involved in caregiving, not only do their spouses benefit, but so too do their children (e.g., Garfield & Isacco, 2012;Isacco et al, 2010;Yogman and Garfield 2016), their organizations (e.g., Humberd et al, 2015;, and the fathers themselves (e.g., Garfield, 2015;Kotelchuck & Lu 2017;Levy & Kotelchuck, 2022). Further, we agree with sentiments espoused by Hideg and Krstic (2021) that for women to receive more support in their careers, parental leave must be provided to both/all parents.…”

Review article: Parenting leaves, workplace characteristics, male health, and the pandemic: Currents in policy-related fatherhood research in higher income countries

“…The past decade has been a time of much change for workplace assumptions around the caregiving roles that fathers play and whether work-family benefits might also extend to them (Harrington, 2022). One aspect that comes to light in much data, is the lack of fathers' voices and there is a current in the literature that seeks to address this (see Harrington, 2022;Levy & Kotelchuck, 2022). Scholars explore how there remains a strong association between fathering identity and paid work, which means that many fathers continue to wish to signal full commitment to the workplace, rather than use family policies that may be available to them (Borgkvist, 2022).…”