Flerbarnspappors erfarenheter och behov av föräldrastöd på Tjörn
FöräldrastödFlerbarnspapporTjörnErfarenhetBehovParental supportFathers with more than one childTjörnExperienceNeed
Background: The health of children and youth has decreased the last two decades. The Swedish government has decided to back a national plan for parenting support. The municipality of Tjörn is a part of national parental support project to identify the need and to improve the parental support in the municipality. Purpose: The purpose with this study was to identify experience and need of parental support among fathers with more than one child on Tjörn. Method: Five individual qualitative interviews were conducted with the fathers. The fathers had two or more children of whom one child was between zero and five years. To interpret the result the method of manifest content analysis were used. Result: The father with multiple children had a changed need of parental support. The need of parental education decreased and they felt more confident in their role as parents. They considered that the need for parental support was greatest with a small child, and especially as a first time parent. There was a split view on the public pre-school where some of the fathers felt uncomfortable going there while others perceived it as a place for creating contacts. Antenatal cares were perceived as a place for creating contacts. The fathers demanded meeting places for fathers since they felt that there are no natural meeting places for them. The fathers were pleased with lectures that dealt with family related topics and they were pleased with Child Health Care as well. Discussion: The fathers felt that the need of parental support decreased when they had more than one child. This corresponds to previous research that showed that the fathers see their own experience as an aid in their role as a parent. The fathers focused on their self as fathers instead as parents and made a clear distinction between fathers and mothers. This led to that the fathers didn't see the meeting places as a natural way to meet as a father and therefore there were a demand for meeting places that were specifically for fathers. Antenatal care and Child Health Care centers are important arenas for development of the parental support since the fathers in the study have previous experience from these arenas.