Heading Into Fatherhood—Nervously: Support for Fathering From Online Dads

Men are becoming increasingly aware of and keen about the promises of involved fathering, and there is growing recognition of the need to support fathers, especially in the postnatal period. However, there is limited evidence of how best to offer this support. In this article, we investigate a new a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Qualitative health research 2011-08, Vol.21 (8), p.1101-1114
Main Authors: Fletcher, Richard, StGeorge, Jennifer
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Australia
Chat rooms
Father-Child Relations
Fathering
Fathers
Female
Gender Identity
Health technology assessment
Humans
Humor
Humour
Internet
Interpersonal communication
Male
Men
Parenting
Popularity
Postpartum period
Public health
Qualitative research
Self disclosure
Selfdisclosure
Social Support
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Summary:Men are becoming increasingly aware of and keen about the promises of involved fathering, and there is growing recognition of the need to support fathers, especially in the postnatal period. However, there is limited evidence of how best to offer this support. In this article, we investigate a new avenue of support that is gaining popularity in the public health sector: the Internet. Using qualitative methods, we examine messages in an asynchronous online chat room for new fathers to reveal how fathers themselves requested, offered, and received social support. Features of their communication style included humor and self-disclosure. An emergent, overarching purpose of their communications was to make fathering more “visible,” and to encourage each other to engage confidently and wholeheartedly in fathering.
ISSN:1049-7323
1552-7557
DOI:10.1177/1049732311404903