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The Parenthood School makes Delivery a “Man’s Business,” Too
Traditionally in Ukraine, women virtually bear sole responsibility for their pregnancy, delivery, and sometimes, even upbringing of their children. Many children only begin to receive their father’s care when they reach school age, when fathers play a strict role in reprimanding their children for misconduct.
Men are usually not involved in the birth process, which is widely considered a “woman’s business.” In many instances, women carry the burden of parenthood on their own, including visiting antenatal clinics and birthing their babies without family support.
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| Kateryna Pozdnyakova and husband, Volodymyr, with their newborn child |
Given this enormous challenge, USAID’s-supported Mother and Infant Health Project (MIHP) saw a valuable opportunity to try and involve fathers-to-be in the full cycle of parenthood, starting from birth preparation, delivery and actual care for both their wives and newborns.
Equipped with specially designed literature on the best evidence-based perinatal practices for fathers-to-be, local specialists of project implementer John Snow Inc. headed to Donetsk Outpatient Clinics and Maternity Hospital #3. In December 2004, they conducted the first training for health care professionals on special counseling skills for expecting couples.
Discussions with the health settings authorities led to the organization of a special weekend Parenthood School designed to engage fathers-to-be. Women received invitations for their husbands to attend the School. At first, fathers were quite reluctant to appear in the antenatal counseling sessions in the outpatient women’s clinics. One oft-cited excuse was that fathers were too busy to participate, another was that the subject matter “was not their business.”
Nevertheless, the first session was attended by ten of the 30 invited fathers-to-be; the second school session lacked only three fathers. Now, the School operates regularly on Saturdays with full attendance by fathers-to-be.
The program has already achieved considerable success. According to the post-partum questionnaire data, the program has resulted in a sharp increase in the presence and support of fathers-to-be at the delivery of the children from 0 to 52.4 percent. Building on the success of the Parenthood School, new fathers and fathers-to-be will now also be able to attend the Infant Care School offered through the Donetsk Maternity Hospital.
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