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This study aims to gain more insight in the lived experience of men who became father at an advanced age (40 years or older). Advanced Parental Age (APA) is becoming an increasingly widespread phenomenon as the average age at which people have children has been increasing for decades now. However, the psychosocial dimension of APA-fatherhood in particular remains a highly understudied topic. This Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis presents findings from a qualitative interview study with seven men who fathered their (now teenage) children in their early 40s to early 50s. Interviews were semi-structured and focused on lived experiences of the participants and their normative stances regarding the topic of parenting at an advanced age. Three themes were identified: The fathers in our sample describe their APA as a result of life events rather than an intentional postponement. Second, they managed how they were perceived as APA-fathers by distancing themselves from 'too old' parents. However, these fathers did not perceive fatherhood at a younger age as better than their current APA. Three fathers, who also had an earlier fatherhood experience, provided a rich account of how they made sense of their fatherhood roles in both families. Third, the seven fathers encountered social stigma, leading to various coping strategies. These findings contribute to better understanding the psychosocial dimension of APA-fatherhood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The digitalization of medicine has led to a considerable growth of heterogeneous health datasets, which could improve healthcare research if integrated into the clinical life cycle. This process requires, amongst other things, the harmonization of these datasets, which is a prerequisite to improve their quality, re-usability and interoperability. However, there is a wide range of factors that either hinder or favor the harmonized collection, sharing and linkage of health data. Objective: This systematic review aims to identify barriers and facilitators to health data harmonization—including data sharing and linkage—by a comparative analysis of studies from Denmark and Switzerland. Methods: Publications from PubMed, Web of Science, EMBASE and CINAHL involving cross-institutional or cross-border collection, sharing or linkage of health data from Denmark or Switzerland were searched to identify the reported barriers and facilitators to data harmonization. Results: Of the 345 projects included, 240 were single-country and 105 were multinational studies. Regarding national projects, a Swiss study reported on average more barriers and facilitators than a Danish study. Barriers and facilitators of a technical nature were most frequently reported. Conclusion: This systematic review gathered evidence from Denmark and Switzerland on barriers and facilitators concerning data harmonization, sharing and linkage. Barriers and facilitators were strictly interrelated with the national context where projects were carried out. Structural changes, such as legislation implemented at the national level, were mirrored in the projects. This underlines the impact of national strategies in the field of health data. Our findings also suggest that more openness and clarity in the reporting of both barriers and facilitators to data harmonization constitute a key element to promote the successful management of new projects using health data and the implementation of proper policies in this field. Our study findings are thus meaningful beyond these two countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]