Dutch midwives' views on father-involvement practices

Abstract

Background: Midwives are uniquely positioned to engage fathers already prenatally and facilitate an equal transition into parenthood for both parents. However, they may face barriers hindering their investment in involving fathers.

Aim: The aim was to investigate barriers and facilitators midwives experience when implementing two father-involvement practices 1) involving fathers in antenatal and postnatal care and (2) encouraging parental conversations about future work/care divisions.

Methods: Study 1 utilized a World Café with twelve midwives to identify barriers and facilitators, across motivation, opportunity, and ability. Study 2 used a Q-methodology with 31 midwives to assess these factors' relative importance and identify distinct viewpoints.

Findings: The World Café revealed that midwives are motivated to involve fathers, primarily because they anticipate positive outcomes for parents and infants. Key barriers included a lack of time, finances, and educational resources. The Q-study identified that midwives could be clustered in two profiles reflecting different perspectives on the ranking of barriers to involving fathers in prenatal care. The "Educationally Constrained Midwife" lacks knowledge, educational materials, and training, while the "Resource Constrained Midwife" is hindered by time and financial constraints. For encouraging parents to discuss the future task division, only one profile was identified showing that midwives were motivated to incorporate this extra task if they receive additional time, finances, training, and educational materials to share with parents.

Conclusion: Addressing educational and resource barriers is crucial for enhancing father-involvement by midwives. Interventions tailored to these profiles can support midwives in adopting practices promoting father-involvement, potentially improving family outcomes and advancing gender equity in caregiving responsibilities.

Keywords: Father-involvement; Fathering; Involved fatherhood; Midwifery; Q-methodology; World café.