Adjusting to being a father to an infant born prematurely: experiences from Swedish fathers

The aim of this study was to describe the experiences of being a father to a prematurely born infant. Eight fathers of prematurely born children were interviewed using a narrative approach, and a thematic content analysis was used to analyse the interviews. The fathers described that the preterm birth gave them the chance to get to know their infant as they had to spend time at the intensive care unit. They also felt better educated by professionals who helped them take care of their infant. Their feelings and attachment for their infant increased over time and the fathers felt that they had a stronger bond with their child compared with friends who had babies born at term. As time passed, they became more confident as a father. In spite of the strain, the experience made them change as a person and they expressed having different values. The relationship with their partner was strengthened as they handled this situation together as a couple. However, the fathers felt fortunate despite everything and described having managed a prematurely born infant rather well. Although there are similarities between being a father to a child born at term and to one born preterm, it is significant to gain further knowledge about the specific experiences of fathers of prematurely born infants. The results of this study have implications for nurses working with families who have children born prematurely.     

Obligations of motherhood in shaping sex work,condom use,and HIV care among Swazi female sex workers living with HIV

Parental obligations influence sexual behaviour among female sex workers (FSW) and may serve as a risk or protective factor for HIV acquisition. How these obligations affect behaviours beyond HIV prevention, including HIV care, is understudied. We analysed 25 interviews conducted with 11 mothers who sell sex and are living with HIV, and 4 key informants as part of a larger study examining the positive health, dignity, and prevention needs of FSW in eSwatini. Despite awareness of HIV reinfection, FSW initiated sex work and engaged in condomless sex due to financial pressures of providing for children. While women attributed having condomless sex to their obligations as a provider, motherhood also served as motivation to engage in HIV care. Further, FSW described children as a source of support in HIV care. Children reminded mothers to take their medications, prepared food to take with medications, and assisted with travel to the clinic.     

Intentional Parenthood: Responsibilities in Surrogate Motherhood

In recent years, a number of writers dealingwith questions over parenthood that arisein the context of reproductive technologies andsurrogate motherhood, have appealed to thenotion of ``intentional parenthood'. Basingtheir argument on liberal values such asindividual autonomy, the freedom to entercontracts, the right to privacy, and individualself-fulfilment, they argue that contractuallystated intentions, rather than genetic orgestational relationships, should form thebasis of parental rights. Against this I arguethat parental rights do not derive fromcontractual agreements, but are based in theirobligations towards the child. I then examinethe nature of the obligations that the variousparties have towards the child both pre- andpostnatally.     

Ethics and society: Artificial insemination by donor: an alternative for single women

Artificial insemination using donor spermatozoa (AID) has beenknown as a treatment for heterosexual couples where the husbandhas been found to be infertile. The first woman without a malepartner wanting a child by AID was admitted to the fertilitycentre in 1981. In the literature, two categories of alternativerequests, i.e. those from lesbian couples and those from singlewomen, are treated as equivalent family structures since bothlack a father figure. However, single women shoulder the responsibilityfor the child's upbringing alone, whereas in lesbian couplespartners share this responsibility. Some of the objections raisedto alternative types of parenthood therefore refer more to womennot having a partner at all. Since 1981, 94 single women haveasked the Fertility Centre of the Free University of Brusselsto be considered for AID treatment. Data from this group ofalternative requests have been collected. The aim is to drawup a profile of the single women who request AID, and to makea distinction between applicants who were accepted and thosewho were refused.     

Sexuality and Disabled Parents with Disabled Children

This is not your typical academic article. Although it provides references and research information, the perspective is a little different. We intend to share stories from a lifetime of participant observation on disabled adoptive parents. The stories are part of the empirical evidence that makes up our collective lives. But they are not stories well represented in the literature—either qualitative or quantitative. We know we are not average. We are more than one standard deviation from the norm and we celebrate this. This article provides a radical reconceptualization of the sexuality experiences of disabled parents. Think of it as a participatory ethnography. Placed in the context of the growing literature base around families, adoption, and sexuality, our stories reflect the lived experience of the parents who have shared their lives with us.     

Surrogacy, Rights and Duties: A Partial Commentary

In responce to criticisms of proposed regulation of surrogacy, it isargued that surrogate mothers and providers of fertility serviceshave duties which make the selling of claims to parenthood unethicaland which justify regulation of surrogacy arrangements.     

An attempt to reconstruct children's donor concept: a comparison between children's and lesbian parents' attitudes towards donor anonymity

BACKGROUND: This study investigated the donor concept of children who were born by means of donor insemination (DI), and their lesbian parents. METHODS: A total of 41 children aged between 7 and 17 years, and 45 parents, took part in the follow-up study. In-depth topic interviews were used to reconstruct how DI children and their mothers perceived the donor. Data were collected about the birth story, about children's conversations with their mothers concerning donor characteristics and about children's and parents' attitudes towards the status of the donor. RESULTS: 54% of these children preferred donor anonymity at this point in their life, whereas 46% wanted to know more about the donor. The majority of the latter group would have liked to know the donor's identity, with boys outnumbering girls. The remaining children of this group were content with non-identifying information. Children wanted to know more about the donors whereas the majority of the mothers preferred the donor to remain anonymous. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that among DI children in general and among members of the same family, unit opinions differ on the status of the donor. A flexible system offering different types of donors seems to be necessary in order to meet the needs of each family.     

Parenting stress in mothers with cystic fibrosis*

Aim: To assess the parenting experience of mothers with cystic fibrosis (CF) and to compare with normative data. Methods: Cross-sectional study with a validated generic parental stress questionnaire (PSQ). This PSQ differentiates four components of parental stress: main factor “parental stress”, compounding factor “role restrictions”, protective factors “support from spouse”, and “social support”. Cut-off scores categorise results as “normal”, “borderline” or “concerning”. Sample: Seventy-three women were informed by their local CF centre. Of these, 36 enrolled and had a first-born child aged 1–12 years (consistent with reference values of the PSQ). Of these, 31 (86%) returned the PSQ. Mean age of mothers was 32.6 years?±?6.9 years, mean age of first-born child was 5.2 years?±?3.4 years. Most of the mothers had one biological child, five women had two children and one had three children. Results: Parental stress scores were normally distributed, the same applies for contributing factors and for the two protective factors. Favourable scores were twice as frequent as concerning scores. Mothers of younger children scored slightly better than mothers of school-aged children. Conclusion: In line with the only comparable study, mothers with CF seem to be a remarkably resilient group who mostly cope well with parental stress even in the face of a progressive, chronic disease requiring time-consuming treatment.

• Implications for Rehabilitation

• Today, motherhood is increasingly becoming an option in fertile women with cystic fibrosis.

• The additional burden of parenting seems to be rewarded by fulfilling essential personal goals.

• CF clinics should routinely address a possible wish for a child and to discuss it, openly.

     

Increasing Fathers’ Involvement in Child Care With a Couple‐Focused Intervention During the Transition to Parenthood

Abstract: In this article, we report the results of an evaluation study of a program for couples during the transition to parenthood on father involvement in child care. One‐hundred‐twenty couples were assigned to 1 of the 3 groups: a treatment group that received the Welcome Baby new‐parent, home‐visiting program focused on infant development and health, supplemented with the self‐guided Marriage Moments program focused on strengthening couple relationships; a comparison group that received just the Welcome Baby program; or a control group. The study revealed that the treatment group fathers were more involved in child care than control group fathers, and this finding was replicated in a second evaluation study. Family life educators must be open to the possibility that they may miss a primary intervention target, yet hit a secondary one.