Purpose: To investigate the development of feelings of attachment between fathers and their preterm infants and to identify factors that help or hinder this process.
Design: A longitudinal descriptive design was used to obtain fathers' perceptions of their infants, feelings for their infants, and other related factors.
Sample: A convenience sample of 27 fathers of preterm infants was recruited.
Main outcome variable: The main outcome variable was the time at which fathers first held their infants.
Results: The earlier fathers held their babies, the sooner they reported feelings of warmth and love for them.