[Fathers' participation in childbirth at a public hospital: institutional difficulties and motivations of couples].

Participation by fathers in the process of childbirth, an aspect of the humanization of obstetric care, helps foster the fathers' involvement in raising their children. This participation provides psychosocial support for pregnant women during labor and delivery, sharing of the experience by the couple, and father-child bonding. The focus of this ethnographic research was the impact of this process on fathers participating in childbirth at a State hospital in Rio de Janeiro, with two stages: participant observation of labor and delivery and eleven interviews with fathers who had been present at delivery. Fathers' participation was influenced by: the motivation of mothers and fathers; social representations of delivery and fatherhood; and exclusion of fathers from reproductive health and pediatrics services. The father's participation was not valued by the attending staff as either a source of emotional support for the mother or as part of fatherhood. The following are necessary: inclusion of fathers in prenatal care, delivery, and pediatrics services; the training of staff to work with the families; social discussion of fatherhood and health services policies to ensure the presence of fathers during labor and childbirth.