The Role of Men in Spouse’s Prenatal Mental Health: A Qualitative Study

Introduction & Objectives: Pregnancy is one of the most important and sensitive periods for every woman. If she is supported by her husband, she will feel more ability to endure it’s discomforts and leave good memories. In this study, the experiences and perspectives of different individuals on the role of men in the mental health of their husbands during this period were investigated in order to design and implement appropriate interventions to promote the mental health of pregnant women and thus the mental health of the whole family.Methods: This study was performed on the pregnant women, fathers, service providers, and midwifery policymakers through purposeful-deductive sampling in Qom. Considering inclusion and exclusion criteria, in-depth qualitative interviews were conducted until data saturation and analyzed according to the contractual content analysis method and the proposed steps of Granheim and Landman using MaxQDA version 10 software. To ensure the validity of the qualitative findings, Guba and Lincoln criteria were used.Results: After interviewing 21 participants with mean age of 38.3 years, 109 final codes were classified in 38 subcategories, 13 main categories and 5 main themes (empathy, accountability, outcomes, dual mechanisms and perceived needs).Conclusion: According to the findings, men s participation in pregnancy is defined as a set of empathetic and responsive behaviors based on their emotional and cognitive understanding, position management, support and compassion towards their spouse, which address organizational challenges. And providing emotional vacuum and awareness in couples can lead to desirable psychological consequences. In the meantime, the deterrent role of some constraints and the facilitating role of some of the individual, family, economic and organizational incentives must be considered.

کلیدواژه ها:

Men ، Mental health ، Pregnancy