Father's experiences of antenatal attachment v1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Father's experiences of antenatal attachment - a phenomenological study
IRAS ID
237439
Contact name
Maria Duaso
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
King's College London
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 6 months, 27 days
Research summary
The aim of this study is to understand better how fathers feel and express their attachment towards the unborn child. The importance of the bond between father and baby is gaining importance over the years, with the men taking more tasks that used to be only done by mothers. Some is known in quantitative terms relating to antenatal attachment (e.g. measuring how attached a father is to the newborn child) or focusing in the experience of birth and early postnatal period, but more is needed to understand how fathers truly feel about the fetus and through which behaviours they show their attachment. Hence, this study will bring more knowledge that can then be used by healthcare professionals to provide more adequate care and integrate fathers. To achieve this, interviews will be conducted with fathers only once in the third trimester of pregnancy. The interviews should last between 45 minutes to 1 hour. In the interviews, fathers will be asked about their 'journey' through pregnancy and how they feel their attachment started and how it developed. Some questions will be asked to understand the father's social and cultural circumstances that could impact in how they develop or express attachment. Fathers will be recruited from an NHS hospital through antenatal classes or other antenatal activities. Where possible the information will be initially provided by another member of staff that not the student undertaking the research. Fathers need to be over 18 years old and to understand and speak English. Fathers might be contacted for further explanations if necessary, but otherwise only one contact is enough. The interviews should take place at the hospital, but if this is not possible, they can be done through the phone (i.e. if the father wants to participate but is not available to come to the hospital).
REC name
South Central - Oxford B Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
18/SC/0182
Date of REC Opinion
17 Apr 2018
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion