Abstract
Abstract
Background:
There has been an increasing scientific interest concerning childbirth-related fear among women. Few studies have paid attention to men's fear and its implications. This study investigates the experience of intense childbirth-related fear from the father's perspective.
Method:
Twenty Swedish men who, in a previous survey, had assessed their fear related to childbirth as intense, were interviewed about what this experience had meant to them. The interviews were analyzed using the similarity–difference method in grounded theory.
Results:
The men's fear was primarily related to ‘the health and life of their partner and child’, and their main worry concerned the woman. The presence of fear was often described as a ‘mental occupation’, but also as ‘increased vigilance’ or ‘bodily sensations’. The ways of dealing with this fear could be characterized as attempts to ‘increase the sense of control of the situation’ and to ‘diminish the very emotion of fear’. Most men had not expressed or spoken about their fear explicitly due to ‘thoughtfulness for one's partner’, feelings that there was ‘no point in talking about the fear’, and difficulties related to ‘gender constructions’. Despite their fear, all the men had attended the birth of their children; their motives were described from the viewpoints of ‘responsibility’, ‘involvement’ and ‘obligation’.
Conclusions:
Experiencing intense fear related to childbirth constitutes a significant burden for expectant fathers. This calls for antenatal strategies for identifying and supporting fearful fathers in their own right without violating the autonomy of the pregnant woman.
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