Being a "Warrior" to Care for the New Family: A Meta-ethnography of Nurses' Perspectives on Municipal Postnatal Healthcare.

Care in the postnatal period is a goal for all families with a newborn baby, and support from nurses might prevent long-term health problems and contribute to a positive postnatal experience. This meta-ethnography aims to integrate and synthesize qualitative studies that illuminate and describe nurses' perspectives on municipal postnatal health care in high-income countries. Systematic literature searches for qualitative studies were conducted and 13 articles were included. The analysis followed the seven phases of Noblit and Hare. Being a "warrior" to care for the new family was identified as an overarching metaphor accompanied by three main themes: Stretching human boundaries, Stretching system boundaries, and Stretching knowledge boundaries. The overarching metaphor offers a deeper understanding of the nurses as "warriors" who despite tight timeframes and heavy workloads are stretching toward a caring relationship with the families. Being a warrior continuously pushing system boundaries puts the nurses in risk of being overstretched, balancing between their ideals and the reality. As more knowledge and clearer policies and procedures regarding the inclusion of fathers and LGBTQ parents in municipal postnatal healthcare are needed, more focus placed on the father or non-birthing parent, different cultural traditions and family constellations in practice and education is suggested.

LGBTQ+ Persons' Experiences of Parenthood in the Context of Maternal and Child Health Care: A Meta-ethnography.

This study aims to integrate and synthesize knowledge of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ+) persons' experiences of parenthood in the context of maternal and child health care. For nurses to provide optimal care for LGBTQ+ parents, we need to derive knowledge from their perspectives. An interpretive meta-synthesis approach, meta-ethnography, was chosen for this study. A lines-of-argument synthesis based on four themes was developed: (1) Entering the world of LGBTQ+ parenthood; (2) The emotional journey in LGBTQ+ parenthood; (3) Struggling with the system as a LGBTQ+ parent and (4) A need to expand the knowledge horizon of LGBTQ+ parenthood. The overarching metaphor, "To be recognised as parents, unique and good enough, like everybody else," reflects how recognition and inclusion may support LGBTQ+ persons in their parenthood and broaden the understanding of parenthood. Knowledge of the LGBTQ+ family needs to be given greater attention in maternity and child health care settings, and in education and health policies.

Parents' experiences with public health nursing during the postnatal period: A reflective lifeworld research study.

AIM: To describe mothers' and fathers' experiences with public health nursing and child and family health centre services in the postnatal period, both as a couple and as individuals. METHOD: A phenomenological reflective lifeworld research approach with a descriptive design was chosen. A purposive sample of 10 mothers and 10 fathers were interviewed twice, 1-2 and 6-8 weeks postpartum, using joint and individual interviews. By focusing on being open and flexible, the data were analyzed to elucidate a meaningful structure of the phenomenon. RESULTS: The findings revealed that parents' experiences with public health nurse (PHN) and Child and Family Health Centre (CFHC) services in the postnatal period are characterised by a longing to be seen and confirmed both as unique individuals and as a family by the PHN. Although an increased need for both lay and professional care is prominent during the postnatal period, the parents drew a varied picture of their experiences demonstrating that the CFHC services are focussing almost exclusively on mother and child. CONCLUSION: A public health nurse can contribute to strengthen parenthood and promote the family's health when the focus is on the new baby. Being cared for while learning to care for the baby is pivotal in a phase that involves both joy and vulnerability. This study adds knowledge concerning the importance of both parents being seen and confirmed by the PHN as unique individuals and a family unit in the postnatal period.

Going blindly into the women's world: a reflective lifeworld research study of fathers' expectations of and experiences with municipal postnatal healthcare services.

Purpose: The aim of this study is to describe new fathers' expectations of and experiences with municipal postnatal healthcare services.Methods: A phenomenological reflective lifeworld research (RLR) approach has been used. Ten fathers were interviewed about their expectations of and experiences with municipal postnatal healthcare services, and the data were analysed to elucidate a meaning structure for the phenomenon.Results: The essential meaning of the phenomenon of fathers' expectations of and experiences with municipal postnatal health care described as going blindly into the women's world. The essential meaning is further explicated through its four constituents: not knowing what to ask for, feeling excluded, seeking safety for the family and longing for care.Conclusions: Entering the postnatal period with sparse knowledge about the child and family healthcare services available is difficult for the fathers who do not know what to ask for and what to expect. The fathers' feel excluded by the public health nurse, and the postnatal health care is seen as a mother-baby-public health nurse triad. The feeling of exclusion and inequality might be avoided if public health nurses focused both on mothers' and fathers' individual follow-up needs in the postnatal period and on seeing the newborn baby and the parents as a family unit.