Father’s psychological adaptations and involvement during their transition to parenthood, among the fathers living at Nallur MOH area Jaffna

Abstract

Introduction: It is a known fact that in the early decade mothers played a major role in the child nurturing process and fathers focused on providing the financial support they needed. However, this trend has changed now; fathers are expected to be active parents in their father role while sharing responsibilities with their partners. Fathers’ adaptation to the paternal role in the transitional period is crucial for the child’s growth and development. Objective: To assess father’s psychological adaptations during their transition to parenthood among the fathers living at Nallur MOH area, Jaffna. Methodology: This community based descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted from August 2021 to January 2023 among 387 fathers. The response rate was 90.84%. Data was collected using an interviewer administered questionnaire and analysed using SPSS 25. Data was presented in frequencies and percentages. Results: Age range of the study participants is 18 to 49 years and mean age was 34.5years. Most of the participants (97.9%) were Tamil, Majority were employed (91.7%). The findings revealed that during the transition period, the fathers were psychologically well adapted. Majority of the fathers (84.8%) felt affection for their baby during their partner's pregnancy. Fair number of them felt happy (39.4%), proud (31.3%) and love (28.3%) towards their child. They felt the father's role is important in child caring (91.9%) and their responsibilities increased (61.2%). Fathers were physically arranged with things needed to welcome their new baby (89.75%), felt more connected towards family (92.2%), happiness level in their marriage was highly increased (66.4%) with the baby and reported their experiences in sleep changes (25.2%). Myths, believes on caring for the baby were stated as fathers’ difficulties (32.8%). Family members’ advice was more helpful for them (33%). Fathers expressed their interest for more information (56.6%) to improve parenthood, and expected appreciation from partners for doing baby care (59.4%). Conclusion: Fathers were well adapted psychologically. They worried about sick, crying babies and myths, believing they were their difficulties. Fathers reported a good level of involvement.