Ngweso S, Petersen RW, Quinlivan JA. Birth experience of fathers in the setting of teenage pregnancy: Are they prepared? World J Obstet Gynecol 2017; 6(1): 1-7 [DOI: 10.5317/wjog.v6.i1.1]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Julie A Quinlivan, Professor, Institute for Health Research, University of Notre Dame Australia, 32 Mouat St, Fremantle, WA 6160, Australia. julie.quinlivan@nd.edu.au
Research Domain of This Article
Obstetrics & Gynecology
Article-Type of This Article
Observational Study
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Obstet Gynecol. Feb 10, 2017; 6(1): 1-7 Published online Feb 10, 2017. doi: 10.5317/wjog.v6.i1.1
Birth experience of fathers in the setting of teenage pregnancy: Are they prepared?
Simeon Ngweso, Rodney W Petersen, Julie A Quinlivan
Simeon Ngweso, Julie A Quinlivan, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Joondalup Health Campus, Joondalup, WA 6027, Australia
Rodney W Petersen, Women’s and Babies Service, Women’s and Children’s Hospital and Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Adelaide, North Adelaide, SA 5000, Australia
Julie A Quinlivan, Institute for Health Research, University of Notre Dame Australia, Fremantle, WA 6160, Australia
Author contributions: Quinlivan JA and Petersen RW undertook concept and design, ethics approvals and established the study; Ngweso S undertook data acquisition and undertook the first draft of the manuscript; Quinlivan JA performed primary analysis; all authors interpreted the data and critically reviewed and subsequently approved the final manuscript for submission.
Institutional review board statement: The trial received institutional human ethics committee approval (Joondalup Health Campus Human Ethics Committee Number 1301).
Informed consent statement: The trial is registered at the Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ACTRN 12613001273774). Individual informed consent was obtained from each participant.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no competing interests in respect to this manuscript.
Data sharing statement: The authors agree to comply with any reasonable request for data sharing.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Julie A Quinlivan, Professor, Institute for Health Research, University of Notre Dame Australia, 32 Mouat St, Fremantle, WA 6160, Australia. julie.quinlivan@nd.edu.au
Telephone: +61-8-94330555 Fax: +61-8-94330544
Received: October 19, 2016 Peer-review started: October 23, 2016 First decision: December 1, 2016 Revised: January 1, 2017 Accepted: January 30, 2017 Article in press: February 1, 2017 Published online: February 10, 2017 Processing time: 189 Days and 15.7 Hours
Abstract
AIM
To explore the birth experiences of teenage fathers and determine the extent to which they are prepared for childbirth.
METHODS
A mixed methods observational study was undertaken comparing the birth experience of 50 fathers in the setting of teenage pregnancy (teenage) compared to a group of 50 older fathers. Fathers were recruited in the antenatal period and completed structured questionnaires following the birth of their child. Quantitative and qualitative analysis was undertaken.
RESULTS
Teenage fathers were younger, less educated and less likely to attend prenatal childbirth education classes (P < 0.0001). During birth, they were less prepared and consulted by attending staff (both P < 0.05). They reported limited roles in intrapartum decision-making (< 20%). In multivariate analysis being a father in the setting of teenage pregnancy remained significantly associated with feeling unprepared for birth. The major themes in qualitative analysis were feeling unprepared, shock, fear, a sense of detachment, happiness, pride, love of the baby and satisfaction with fertility.
CONCLUSION
Teenage fathers are less prepared for the birth of their child and this results in shock, fear and detachment that may impact on the early father-infant relationship.
Core tip: Fathers play an important role in their children’s lives. However, few fathers in the setting of teenage pregnancy are prepared for the birth of their baby. They are less likely to attend childbirth preparation classes. Childbirth attendants do not engage them in intrapartum decision-making. Engaging fathers in the setting of teenage pregnancy in childbirth education and birth might reduce adverse feelings of shock, fear and detachment that might otherwise harm the early father-child attachment relationship.
