"Fathers want to be more present and feel part of the parenting process but encounter barriers that limit their involvement". This is how Marta Vidaurreta, professor at School of Nursing at the University of Navarra, explains it in her doctoral thesis "Becoming a father: a one-way journey, from partner to team".

According to this researcher, the family, health and work environments "make it difficult for men to become fathers". In this sense, she refers to issues such as the content and schedules of pre-birth sessions as well as a professional culture that does not encourage the use of work leave or the attendance to pre-birth sessions. On the other hand, "care in Maternity services, and even in Pediatrics, is perceived by them as very maternal, without a family approach ", he stresses.

"All of this pushes us to encourage health professionals to rethink care that is more focused on all members of the family and the family as a unit," the researcher emphasizes.

The goal of Marta Vidaurreta's thesis was to delve into the process of first-time fatherhood by identifying those important aspects that need to be addressed in accompanying fathers: what happens in the life of a man who is going to be a father, how does his life as a couple change, how does he modify his family routine, how does he reconcile fatherhood with his work life, and how does he reconcile fatherhood with his work life?

"Becoming a father for the first time is a positive and happyevent but also a complex and often unknown and forgotten process. In fact, it is a 'journey' with several stages in which the man, only at the end, with the passage of time and the perception of normality, comes to feel like a father and to perceive more control over his new identity."

The research reflects the feelings of uncertainty experienced by fathers at the beginning of the journey and how from this stage, they move on to one where everything is focused on the mother. "With many expectations placed on childbirth, they assume this moment as crucial to be able to regain a position that indicates that they also exist, however, the family, health and work environment does not seem to encourage this step forward," says the expert.

The biological transition that occurs with childbirth gives way, with the arrival home, to the beginning of the social transition. "It will be then, with the passage of time and the perception of normality, when the necessary conditions to 'feel like a father' are created. A feeling closely related to the possibility of doing: feeding and playing with the baby, bathing it or teaching it to walk".

Finally, the couple themselves see a challenge in this new status "which involves an effort to reconcile the life of before with that of now, to know how to manage the changes and the nostalgia for the previous stage, highlighting the need to adjust them with their relationship". However, in spite of the difficulties, "the parents let us glimpse the need to move from being a couple to being a team".