When a maternal health service is better at providing information to fathers, fathers are likely to be more engaged in pregnancy and childbirth. So found a study in Singapore involving 182 first-time expectant fathers.

The researchers developed three new measures to examine this issue:

• Father’s Involvement in Pregnancy and Childbirth Questionnaire: 16 questions relating to pregnancy and 6 to labour and childbirth.
• Father’s Information and Sources of Support Questionnaire: 16 questions about informational support, 19 about where support comes from.
• Father’s Attitude Towards Involvement in Pregnancy and Childbirth Questionnaire: 5 questions

The fathers’ responses showed room for improvement in information provision and also showed a preference for on-line information.

The researchers recommend better on-line information support for fathers as a way to promote greater father engagement.

The researchers also found that fathers with a better relationship with the mother were likely to be more engaged in the pregnancy.

Xue WL, He H-G, Chua YJ, Wang W & Shorey S (2018), Factors influencing first-time fathers’ involvement in their wives’ pregnancy and childbirth: A correlational study, Midwifery 62

Photo: jEd dC. Creative Commons.