Supporting fathers who want to be involved in providing healthcare for their child
Intended for healthcare professionals
Evidence and practice    

Supporting fathers who want to be involved in providing healthcare for their child

Thomas Laws Lecturer, School of Health and Society, University of Salford, England

An increasing number of fathers want to be involved in providing healthcare for their child. Nurses endeavouring to include fathers in care are hindered by a lack of evidence-based guidelines outlining how best to engage with, educate and upskill this parent. Fathers remain a relatively understudied parent and there are insufficient data to validate guidelines.

A scoping review sought to locate, describe and summarise evidence of fathers performing healthcare for their child experiencing an acute, chronic or long-term condition; identify the type of support fathers received when acquiring healthcare skills; and determine gaps in research knowledge relevant to nursing practice in the context of family-centred care. A search was undertaken of five electronic databases, relevant journals and grey literature reported in the English language for works produced between 2002 and 2017. Twelve works met the inclusion criteria and were suitable for analysis. Descriptions of paternal health practices remain scant and therefore limit our knowledge of fathers’ repertoire of skills, potential abilities and support needs.

An evidence-based approach is needed to guide nurses in their support of fathers who actively seek to be involved in their child’s healthcare. A mixed-methods approach with longitudinal data collection is required to fill this research gap.

Nursing Children and Young People. doi: 10.7748/ncyp.2018.e1069

Citation

Laws T (2018) Supporting fathers who want to be involved in providing healthcare for their child. Nursing Children and Young People. doi: 10.7748/ncyp.2018.e1069

Peer review

This article has been subject to open peer review and has been checked for plagiarism using automated software

Correspondence

t.a.c.laws@salford.ac.uk

Conflict of interest

None declared

Published online: 28 August 2018

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