The Effect of Parent Education on the Extent of Paternal Adaptation in First-Time Fathers

Abstract

Entering the stage of parenthood can be a stressful time and can significantly affect the mental health and well-being of parents by causing lifestyle changes. Thus, this research was created with the aim of assessing the effect of parent education on the extent of depression in fathers, after their first experience with parenthood. Members of the experimental group included 100 husbands of pregnant women visiting Ardebil’s healthcare medical centers, who received counseling and training about accepting the role of fatherhood. Members of the control group included 100 husbands of pregnant women in the same centers, who received the usual pregnancy care. The analysis of the data was conducted on two descriptive and deductive levels. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was done to evaluate the normality of the data, and the Mann-Whitney U non-parametric test and the Wilcoxon Signed-Rank test were used for comparing the experimental group and the control group. The findings of the present study showed that the average paternal adaptation score of the control and experimental groups does not have a statistically significant difference before and after the experimental interference. However, the average paternal adaptation score of the experimental and control groups had a statistically significant difference after the experimental interference. Therefore, it can be concluded that education increases paternal adaptation and quality of life. The outcome of this study showed that education and increasing personal information, especially during the childbearing period, increases the quality of life and paternal adaptation.