Finally, daddies in the delivery room: Parents’ education in Georgia

Abstract

In recent decades there has been an increasing trend towards male partners attending childbirth in post-industrialized countries. However, in some countries, due to limited cultural acceptability and outdated delivery practices, fathers are not welcomed or even allowed into the delivery room. World experience postulates that men's active participation and assistance during childbirth accelerates the delivery process and improves delivery outcomes. Fathers’ involvement also promotes positive feelings about the birth experience, fosters paternal role attainment, and strengthens family bonding. Despite documented advantages of fathers’ involvement in pregnancy and childbirth, it still remains challenging to implement. The Healthy Women in Georgia (HWG) programme, promoting family-centred maternity care in Georgia, has demonstrated the efficiency of childbirth educational classes combined with modernized labour and delivery practices as a means of increasing fathers’ participation in pregnancy care and childbirth. Moreover, HWG interventions have shown that fathers can effectively provide early skin-to-skin contact to caesarean section delivered infants, contributing to the heat conservation of the babies and minimizing the likelihood of hypothermia. Advanced labour and delivery practices, adequate antenatal education, and father's increased participation in pregnancy care and delivery promoted by the HWG programme has been shown to improve delivery outcomes, ultimately leading to better maternal and child health.

Keywords:

• Fathers
• childbirth
• parents’ education

We would like to extend special thanks to the United States Agency for International Development for providing the financial support, and JSI headquarters for continued technical assistance in the implementation of Healthy Women in Georgia programme. We also wish to thank the HWG programme staff for their dedication to the promotion of innovative family-centred maternity care in Georgia, which largely contributes to the maternal and child well-being in our country.