Father group leaders' experiences of creating an arena for father support - A qualitative study.

BACKGROUND

Parental classes consisting of only fathers, hereafter referred to as father groups, have existed in Sweden since the mid-1990s.

OBJECTIVE

To describe the father group leaders' perspectives on and experiences of father groups.

METHOD

A qualitative study was conducted using content analysis. Eleven individual interviews with father group leaders were conducted. An interview guide was used.

SETTINGS AND PARTICIPANTS

The study was set in different parts of Sweden. The participants were eleven men who are father group leaders. They were recruited using the snowball method.

FINDINGS

The father group leaders described how participants often have high education levels and orderly social circumstances. The leaders described that the groups increased the fathers' reflection about parenthood, which could benefit the whole family in both the short and long term. The father group leaders reported that some of the topics in the sessions directly influenced fathers to discuss issues regarding equality and their co-parenting relationship. They also argued that participating in father groups might help convince fathers to take more parental leave and build stronger relationships with their partner and child.