Fathers are notoriously difficult to engage via traditional research methods, such as face-to-face interviews and focus groups ( Phares, Lopez, Fields, Kamboukos, & Duhig, 2005). The Internet is an ideal context within which to qualitatively investigate men’s experiences of fatherhood. Understanding the content of worries experienced by men during pregnancy is important so that health professionals can engage fathers in dialogue about their feelings about pregnancy and childbirth and provide relevant information. Clinical distress in fathers is associated with adverse impacts on child development, increased risk of attachment problems, and child internalizing problems ( Kane & Garber, 2004 Kowalenko et al., 2013). (2014) found that fear of childbirth was associated with increased parental stress and poorer physical and mental health. Improved understanding of the fears and worries of expectant fathers is also important given the potential negative consequences for the father and their family if these worries escalate into clinical anxiety. Understanding the content of worries experienced by men during pregnancy is important so that health professionals can engage fathers in dialogue about their feelings about pregnancy and childbirth and provide relevant information ( Hildingsson, Haines, Johansson, Rubertsson, & Fenwick, 2014). The aim of this study was to identify the types of worries and concerns that men report during pregnancy by conducting a qualitative analysis of an online community of expectant fathers. Although extensive research has been conducted into women’s experiences of anxiety during the perinatal period (e.g., Rowe & Fisher, 2015), the literature on fathers’ emotional needs and experiences during pregnancy is only emerging. For a proportion of men and women, these worries become excessive: 2.6%–39% of women ( Leach, Poyser, & Fairweather-Schmidt, 2015) and 2.4%–16.3% of men ( Leach, Poyser, Cooklin, & Giallo, 2016) experience clinically significant levels of anxiety during the perinatal period.
It is understandable that for many new parents, pregnancy elicits a range of fears and worries. The transition to parenthood is a significant life event.
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