Percezione del parto da parte dei padri

Introduction Currently in Italy most fathers are present in the delivery room during the birth of their child. For this reason, it is essential for the health care professionals to know their experiences. In this research the experiences of fathers present in the delivery room are analysed, focusing on the eutocic vaginal births since they are the ones in which the midwife has autonomy and can therefore have the most influence on the couple's experience. In fact, it is the duty of a midwife to favour the mother-father-child attachment during pregnancy, childbirth and the puerperium (Codice Deontologico dell’ostetrica/o, 2017). Aim of the study The purpose of this qualitative study is to understand the experiences, feelings and needs of fathers during childbirth. Once these experiences have been collected, possible operational proposals will be developed to be implemented in hospitals to improve the conditions that could affect the man’s experience and consequently the mother-father-infant bond. Materials and methods A sampling of convenience was made through which 11 fathers who participated in the eutocic delivery of their partner/wife were recruited. The participants were subjected to a semi-structured interview that was recorded and subsequently transcribed verbatim. Furthermore, some demographic data were collected for each participant. Afterwards, the written interviews were re-read and analysed using a hermeneutical phenomenological approach. Results In the analysis, 7 themes were identified. In these seven themes there are twenty-two categories and sixty-nine meaning labels. The themes are: "Desires and expectations regarding childbirth", "Experiences related to health care practitioners and the hospital", "Feelings experienced during labor and delivery", "Activities and duties of the father during labor and delivery ","Feelings at the first meeting with the newborn", "Positive experiences of labor and delivery" and "Negative experiences of labor and delivery ". In general childbirth is experienced as a positive event, although for some fathers the fear and concern for the health of the mother and child are strong. Another challenge to overcome for the fathers is to stay close to the woman who suffers and try to make her pain more bearable. Conclusions and practical relevance This study expands the knowledge regarding the experiences of the fathers in the delivery room, and therefore allows to improve the assistance during pregnancy and childbirth, to allow men the best possible experience of childbirth, which also has an influence on his relationship with his partner and with the newborn.