Men’s perceptions of the supportive use of health communication tools during the ante- and postnatal period

Abstract

In the contemporary approach to ante- and postnatal care, where men are anticipated to participate more, men themselves also wish to be more included. Even though national health policy presents person-centred care as a central goal, it is not clear if and how it manifests itself for some, as men continue to feel excluded from the ante- and postnatal care process. The aim of this research was to identify the information sources that men in Estonia currently rely upon regarding the ante- and postnatal period in order to both understand the possible areas of development and the potential application of health communication tools to support men in ante- and postnatal care. The research, which was part of a master’s thesis, was a qualitative study conducted with 13 men who were fathers or were about to become fathers. The results indicate that despite the new standards in health policy, there is a lack of targeted support systems to address men’s information needs during the ante- and postnatal period in Estonia – a problem further intensified by the COVID-19 pandemic. The current results show that adequate information access requires advanced skills in source criticality, languages, health and digital literacy. The study found that the issue can be resolved through conscious use of health communication tools, which need to be in a person-centred format – easily found, user-friendly and logically structured. A systemic approach needs to be developed to further support men. Health communication strategies can mediate such an approach by being able to accommodate a wider range of skills and preferences.

Keywords

• health communication
• person-centred
• men
• family-centred
• antenatal
• postnatal.