The importance of inserting the father in prenatal consultations

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To describe the perception of parents, pregnant women, and nurses about paternal prenatal consultation. METHOD: Descriptive exploratory research with a qualitative and quantitative approach. Thirty-two fathers and 32 mothers participated in the research, in addition to four nurses, through semi-structured interviews carried out in Basic Health Units. To analyze the qualitative content, descriptive techniques and thematic analysis were used, for the quantitative approach, a percentage calculation was carried out. The research was approved by the Ethics Committee. RESULTS: Three categories were created, the first being parental participation in prenatal care, in which it was identified that 97% of parents are interested in participating in consultations; however, 65% report that pregnancy is the woman's responsibility. The second category is the importance of fathers’ participation from the pregnant woman's perspective, in which 72% report not knowing about male participation in consultations and that their partners never attended, and 84% said they encouraged male participation. The third category is the nurse's approach to including the father in prenatal care, demonstrating that 100% of nurses say they are prepared to receive men, 75% report encouraging participation, and 50% say that fathers do not show interest in attending the consultations. CONCLUSION: It was evident that fathers are interested in paternal prenatal care and that they need greater encouragement from nurses.