Abstract
This study aimed to examine husbands’ feelings toward their unborn children when accompanying their wives to prenatal appointments and suggest nursing practices specifically targeted toward husbands.
We conducted semi-structured interviews with 10 husbands who accompanied their wives to at least one prenatal appointment. Data were analyzed with reference to B.Berelson’s work on content analysis. This study was approved by the ethics committee of University A and participants provided consent.
11 core categories were extracted from husbands’ feelings about their unborn children, including “desire to attend appointments out of concern for the fetus’ growth due to recognizing that it is his and his wife’s child,” “a budding sense of being a father and motivation to try hard as a parent due to personally experiencing the existence of the fetus,” and “joy and deep emotion at personally experiencing the fetus’ growth through ultrasounds.” These core categories demonstrated 94％ and 100％ agreement using W. A. Scott’s method, indicating reliability.
From the 11 core categories of husbands’ feelings toward their unborn children, we found that fathers “worry about the fetus’ health and growth” and that, by accompanying their wives to their prenatal appointments, fathers can “feel a sense of relief after confirming health and growth as well as gain a sense of being a father and encouragement for the future.” These findings suggest that nurses should increase opportunities for husbands to attend their wives’ prenatal appointments and help them understand the fetus’ health and growth.
