Global and Women's Health, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
School of Nursing & Midwifery - Western Health Partnership, Faculty of Health, Deakin University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Health Promot J Austr. 2023 Oct;34(4):691-701. doi: 10.1002/hpja.769. Epub 2023 Jun 27.
Australian maternal, family and child services increasingly espouse the value of being 'father-inclusive'. However, fathers report feeling excluded or marginalised during healthcare visits with their partners/infants, and experience barriers to engaging in perinatal healthcare at the community, individual and healthcare service level. These barriers may be amplified in men who are members of minority groups, such as those from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds.
This research investigated healthcare professionals' perceptions and experiences of providing perinatal health services to families from CALD backgrounds. Semi-structured interviews were held with healthcare professionals from multiple disciplinary backgrounds providing services to families in the perinatal period. Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed and analysed thematically to identify key themes and sub-themes.
Ten healthcare professionals were interviewed. Participants acknowledged that inclusion of fathers in care is important as involvement enables fathers to support their pregnant partners and children, manage their own mental health, and helps to transform harmful gender roles.
Overall, healthcare professionals are willing to include culturally diverse fathers. However, the ability of culturally diverse families to engage with healthcare services is impacted by the cultural competency of the services. So what? Healthcare delivered during pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum year may be improved by adopting a whole-family approach, which considers the needs and perspectives of fathers and partners. However, particular attention is needed to ensure healthcare policies and practices are culturally competent to meet the needs of fathers from culturally diverse backgrounds.
澳大利亚的母婴和儿童服务机构越来越提倡“包容父亲”的价值观。然而，父亲们报告说，在与伴侣/婴儿一起进行医疗保健访问时感到被排斥或边缘化，并且在社区、个人和医疗保健服务层面上都面临参与围产期保健的障碍。对于来自文化和语言多样化（CALD）背景的少数群体男性来说，这些障碍可能会加剧。
本研究调查了医疗保健专业人员在为来自 CALD 背景的家庭提供围产期保健服务方面的看法和经验。对来自多个学科背景的医疗保健专业人员进行了半结构化访谈，这些专业人员为围产期家庭提供服务。对访谈进行了录音、转录和主题分析，以确定关键主题和子主题。
对 10 名医疗保健专业人员进行了访谈。参与者承认让父亲参与护理很重要，因为参与可以使父亲能够支持他们怀孕的伴侣和孩子，管理自己的心理健康，并有助于改变有害的性别角色。
总体而言，医疗保健专业人员愿意包容文化多样化的父亲。然而，文化多样化家庭与医疗保健服务机构互动的能力受到服务的文化能力的影响。所以呢？通过采用全家庭方法，考虑到父亲和伴侣的需求和观点，怀孕期间、分娩期间和产后一年的医疗保健可能会得到改善。然而，特别需要注意的是，确保医疗保健政策和实践具有文化能力，以满足文化多样化背景下的父亲的需求。
