Reacción a "Study looks at men's problems with fatherhood due to lack of information and emotional support"

The review of 37 studies using qualitative methodology is highly systematic, includes a peer review with inclusion of a group of the public and stakeholders, namely parents, and follows the quality indices of a prestigious medical and public health research institute. The review process is very well detailed and supported by qualitative data through citations and background information from the parents who form the units of analysis of the reviewed studies.

The existing evidence is mainly Anglo-Saxon and comes from the fields of medicine, psychology and public health. The authors are also part of this area of expertise, but include in the review any studies on the topic of men's health and well-being as they transition to fatherhood, including literature from sociology.

The authors have taken into account all kinds of factors because this is a review of qualitative and non-statistical studies, so the aim is to find the themes that emerge from the discourses of fathers interviewed using different research techniques. Some of the limitations of the study are listed by them: most of the parents come from Western contexts, from heterosexual families and some studies do not meet all desirable quality standards. Moreover, the authors do not make their theoretical-normative position explicit and forget the public policy context, such as the question of whether or not fathers had access to longer or shorter parental leave and whether they cared alone or only in the mother's company.

This study is very relevant because it focuses on the emotional health of some fathers due to the degradation of their relationship with their partner, the feeling of being excluded from care, the confusion of social expectations towards them, their exclusion in various areas of perinatal health and the lack of validation by their peers. As a consequence, some fathers report the emergence of tensions with family members and the mother.

The emotional health of fathers is very relevant not only for their well-being, but also for fostering the development of a family climate that allows for the secure attachment of the baby to the mother and father in contexts that pursue equal opportunities between women and men. The sense of exclusion from childbirth preparation and postnatal training or information is very revealing. Experiences of including fathers in childbirth preparation courses in Spain should be replicated on a large scale. In addition, current legislation should guarantee the possibility for fathers to use childbirth and childcare leave autonomously and in turn with the mother in order to enable the creation of a secure attachment with their child.