Fathers and fatherhood: Changing trends and cultural factors

There has been a recent drive for increased father involvement in the policy context. The Healthy Child Programme puts a strong emphasis on parenting support, specifically concentrating on supporting strong couple relationships, engaging with fathers, and supporting the transition to parenthood for first-time parents. Health visitors are ideally placed to support fathers as well as mothers, and should therefore have a strong understanding of the notion of fatherhood and the changing trends, in order to provide appropriate support and deliver effective services to fathers. This paper is the first part of a two-part series, which examines the notion of fatherhood, the changing trends and fatherhood in relation to culture, religion and children.