Fathers' lived experiences of caring for their preterm infant at the neonatal unit and in neonatal home care after the introduction of a parental support programme: A phenomenological study.

Only seven fathers were analysed, so the accounts cannot be treated as a pattern across all fathers of preterm infants. All fathers were Swedish and lived with the infant’s mother, so the findings may not apply to other cultures, family structures, or fathers who are not living with the mother. Interviews took place about one to two weeks after discharge, so positive recent home-care memories may have been easier to recall than earlier NICU experiences. This paper describes fathers’ experiences after a support programme was introduced; it does not compare fathers who received the programme with fathers who did not, so it cannot show that the programme caused the reported feelings. Some of the original interviews were excluded because they were less informative, which may have narrowed the range of narratives.

The authors declared no conflict of interest.

Do not read this as evidence that the parental support programme improves fathers’ experiences or reduces parental stress. It reports seven fathers’ experiences after the programme was introduced and does not compare them with fathers who did not receive it.