Back to Journals » Psychology Research and Behavior Management » Volume 4

Expectant parents’ experiences of parental education within the antenatal health service

Authors Norling-Gustafsson A, Skaghammar K, Adolfsson A

Published 16 December 2011 Volume 2011:4 Pages 159—167

DOI https://doi.org/10.2147/PRBM.S22861

Review by Single anonymous peer review

Peer reviewer comments 2



Ann Norling-Gustafsson1,2, Katarina Skaghammar1,2, Annsofie Adolfsson1,3
1School of life Sciences, University of Skövde, Skövde, Sweden; 2Primary Health, MVC, Karlsborg, Sweden; 3Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Skaraborg Hospital, Skövde, Sweden

Abstract: Being an expectant parent is a life changing event and it is something that most people will experience in their lifetime. Many people who are parents for the first time will participate in parenting education. Most of the previous studies associated with parenting education focus on subjects such as birth outcome and breastfeeding. The purpose of this study is to focus on the less investigated aspect of the parents’ experience of participating in parenting education with Maternal Healthcare Services (MVC). A qualitative, phenomenological, hermeneutical method was selected to be used to analyze our findings and we used the statements of twenty participants to accumulate enough material to develop it into twelve sub-themes and five themes. The results of this study show that these expectant parents had few or no expectations of the parenting education that they were going to participate in. Generally speaking the parents seemed to be satisfied with the program. They described their reasons for participating as a chance to get together with other people in similar circumstances and to share information and they found a midwife to be a trustworthy professional person to confirm the information that was available to them from other sources.

Keywords: parent education, parents' experiences, parents’ expectations

Creative Commons License © 2011 The Author(s). This work is published and licensed by Dove Medical Press Limited. The full terms of this license are available at https://www.dovepress.com/terms.php and incorporate the Creative Commons Attribution - Non Commercial (unported, v3.0) License. By accessing the work you hereby accept the Terms. Non-commercial uses of the work are permitted without any further permission from Dove Medical Press Limited, provided the work is properly attributed. For permission for commercial use of this work, please see paragraphs 4.2 and 5 of our Terms.