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Objective: To explore Somali-born parents' experiences of antenatal care in Sweden, antenatal care midwives' experiences of caring for Somali-born parents, and their respective ideas about group antenatal care for Somali-born parents., Design: Eight focus group discussions with 2-8 participants in each were conducted, three with Somali-born mothers, two with fathers and three with antenatal care midwives. The transcribed text was analysed using Attride-Stirling's tool "Thematic networks"., Setting: Two towns in mid-Sweden and a suburb of the capital city of Sweden., Participants: Mothers (n = 16), fathers (n = 13) and midwives (n = 7) were recruited using purposeful sampling., Findings: Somali-born mothers and fathers in Sweden were content with many aspects of antenatal care, but they also faced barriers. Challenges in the midwife-parent encounter related to tailoring of care to individual needs, dealing with stereotypes, addressing varied levels of health literacy, overcoming communication barriers and enabling partner involvement. Health system challenges related to accessibility of care, limited resources, and the need for clear, but flexible routines and supportive structures for parent education. Midwives confirmed these challenges and tried to address them but sometimes lacked the support, resources and tools to do so. Mothers, fathers and midwives thought that language-supported group antenatal care might help to improve communication, provide mutual support and enable better dialogue, but they were concerned that group care should still allow privacy when needed and not stereotype families according to their country of birth., Key Conclusions: ANC interventions targeting inequalities between migrants and non-migrants may benefit from embracing a person-centred approach, as a means to counteract stereotypes, misunderstandings and prejudice. Group antenatal care has the potential to provide a platform for person-centred care and has other potential benefits in providing high-quality antenatal care for sub-groups that tend to receive less or poor quality care. Further research on how to address stereotypes and implicit bias in maternity care in the Swedish context is needed., (Copyright © 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Objective: to investigate the agreement in Swedish childless couples' reproductive intentions, in terms of (1) expecting to have children or not, (2) time point for a first child, and (3) number of children, in relation to age., Design: cross-sectional data from the Swedish Young Adult Panel Study in 2009., Setting: Sweden., Participants: 216 childless couples (216 women and 216 men), Measurements: questionnaire data on reproductive intentions. Descriptive analyses including Cohen's kappa were conducted for all couples, both for younger and older couples, where the woman was below or above the mean age for having the first child in Sweden, namely ≤ 28 years (younger) and ≥ 29 years (older)., Findings: agreement in the partners' expectations whether to have children or not was substantial but far from perfect (κ=0.69), and it was higher in older couples (κ=0.70) than in younger ones (κ=0.51). Compared with younger couples, a higher proportion of older couples agreed not to have children or were uncertain (32% versus 5%; p<0.001). Overall, there was moderate agreement concerning the intended time point for a first child (κ=0.60), also when younger couples (κ=0.54) and older couples (κ=0.57) were analysed separately. On the other hand, there was only a slight agreement between the partners' responses concerning the desired number of children (κ=0.00), and in general the woman wanted more children., Key Conclusions: Swedish couples are in substantial agreement on if and when to have children, especially the older couples. However, the female partner is more likely than her male partner to be the one wanting the most children., Implications for Practice: partners' individual and mutual desires should be taken into account in reproductive counselling., (© 2013 Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Objective: to investigate first-time fathers' expectations and experiences of childbirth and satisfaction with care in relation to paternal age., Design: data from a randomised controlled trial of antenatal education were used for secondary analysis. Data were collected by questionnaires in mid-pregnancy and at three months after the birth. Comparisons by χ(2)-tests and Student's t-tests were made between men in three age groups: young men aged ≤27 years (n=188), men of average age 28-33 years (n=389) and men of advanced age ≥34 years (n=200)., Setting: the expectant fathers were recruited from 15 antenatal clinics spread over Sweden., Participants: 777 first-time fathers., Findings: antenatal expectations and postnatal memory of the childbirth experience varied by paternal age. In mid-pregnancy, mixed or negative feelings about the upcoming birth were more prevalent in men of advanced age (29%) compared with men of average (26%) and young (18%) age (p<0.01), and they feared the event more than the youngest (mean on the Wijma Delivery Expectancy Questionnaire: advanced age 43.3; average age 42.9; young 38.7; p<0.01). The older men also assessed their partner's labour and birth as more difficult (advanced age 43%; average age 41%; young 32%; p=0.05) and had a less positive overall birth experience (advanced age 30%; average age 36%; young 43%; p<0.05). However, older fathers were more satisfied with care given during the intrapartum period: 52% were overall satisfied compared with 46% of the men of average age and 39% of young age (p=0.03)., Key Conclusions: men of advanced age had more fearful and negative expectations during their partner's pregnancies and postnatally assessed the births as less positive and more difficult than younger men did. Despite this, older men were more satisfied with intrapartum care., Implications for Practice: knowledge about age-related differences in the expectations and experiences of first-time fathers may help midwives and doctors give more individualised information and support, with special attention to older men's expectations and experiences of the birth as such, and to younger men's perception of care., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: midwifery education in many countries has been adapted to the academic system by a stronger focus on research methodology and scientific evidence. This development has often taken place without extending the programs. We were interested in exploring views about current content of midwifery education in Sweden with a focus on clinical competencies and the new research components., Objective: to investigate views about Swedish midwifery education held by students prior to graduation and after 1 year of practice, and by experienced midwives and obstetricians, with special focus on clinical competency., Design: nationwide surveys conducted between June 2007 and January 2008, and 1 year later (follow-up of students)., Methods: self-administered questionnaires completed by 171 (83%) students and 121 (59%) of these participants after 1 year of midwifery practice, and by 162 (54%) midwives and 108 (40%) obstetricians with at least 5 years of clinical experience. The responders were asked to assess predefined intrapartum competencies, which components of the education were allocated too little and too much time, and how well the education prepared for clinical practise overall. Content analysis of open-ended questions and descriptive analyses was used., Findings: most students, midwives and obstetricians were 'very' or 'fairly' satisfied with how the education prepared midwives for clinical practice and 1.8%, 4.7% and 17.6%, respectively, were dissatisfied. About half of the obstetricians and one-third of the experienced midwives rated new midwives' ability to identify deviations from normal progress as low or lacking, compared with 10% of the students. A majority found that too little time, of the 60 weeks programme, was allocated to intrapartum care and medical complications and too much time to research and writing a minor thesis., Key Conclusions: although few were dissatisfied with how midwifery education prepared for clinical practice in general, the majority of participants would have liked more time for medical complications, intrapartum care, and emergency situations, and less for research. These findings suggest that the balance between clinical competency and research, and how the research component is integrated into clinical knowledge, should be further discussed and evaluated. Also the discrepancy between the views of newly educated midwives and those of more experienced midwives and obstetricians need further investigation., (Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)