TITLE:
The Paternal Mental Health, Difficulties for Fathers with Children in Early Infancy, and Their Educational Support Needs
AUTHORS:
Kimiko Higashio, Ayako Sasaki
KEYWORDS:
Paternity, Fatherhood, Paternity Support, Paternal Mental Health, Difficulties with Fatherhood
JOURNAL NAME:
Health,
Vol.13 No.8,
August
5,
2021
ABSTRACT: Purpose: The purpose is to identify what difficulties fathers have with the roles of fatherhood during pregnancy and early infancy, and to make apparent what their educational support needs are. Methods: This study follows a qualitative descriptive design. The subjects were new first-time fathers of Japanese nationality. Subjects participated in semi-structured interviews administered according to interview guidelines. Results: There were 15 subjects in total. The average age of the subjects’ children was 5.5 months. Fathers’ difficulties with their new roles were abstracted in to five main categories: , , , , and . Additionally, the types of support fathers requested to help maintain their mental health after the birth of their infants were abstracted into three main categories: , , and . Conclusions: 1) The stress experienced by fathers from the birth of their child through early infancy, originating in two elements of fatherhood (engagement with the child and spousal support), placed a great mental burden upon them in a multi-layered structure; 2) The support that needs fathers expressed to maintain their mental health pre- and postpartum is based on the difficulties they experienced with paternal roles; 3) There is a disparity between the needs of fathers expressed through the results of this study and current paternal support practices in Japan. The supplementation and revision of existing paternal support practices is an issue that merits further consideration. Furthermore, the existing group interview method suffers from low attendance, and attending has become increasingly difficult due to the COVID-19 pandemic spreading throughout Japan. It is necessary to consider alternative methods of educational support moving forward.