Introduction: Future fathers already begin to prepare for parenthood during pregnancy. Modern fathers can accompany their partners to gynecolocigal examinations and ultrasound check-ups, as well as parenting classes. During labour, they provide their partners physical and emotional support. After the birth of a child fathers can go on a paternity leave, which enables them to actively take part in family duties like raising and taking care of children and doing housework. Purpose: The purpose of my dissertation is to determine how and in what ways Slovene fathers take part in perinatal care of pregnant partners and newborns. We were also interested in opinion of the fathers, how often they participate in housework, how they take care of a baby and how they provide support for their partners. Research methods: Descriptive and non experimental method of empirical research is used in this dissertation. All literature is scientific and professional. Sources have been found in the following databases: COBISS, DiKul, dLib, Medline, PubMed, CINAHL, Cochrane Library, ScienceDirect and Wiley Online Library, with keywords oče, očetovanje, očetovstvo, aktivna vloga očeta, vloga očeta med nosečnostjo, vloga očeta med porodom, poporodno obdobje or fatherhood, fatherhood in pregnancy, fatherhood in childbirth, fatherhood in puerperium, father and role in pregnancy, father and role in childbirth, fathering in postnatal period. Overwieved literature is not older than 10 years. Opinions of Slovene fathers have been collected with an online survey, which was designed on the basis of the certain literature reviews. For our data analysis we used descriptive statistic methods with an indication of the frequencies and precentages of data. Results: 114 fathers took part in the research, of which there was 48 dads aged from 31 to 40. Most of them have acquired high school level of education (53%) and live in the countryside (52%). The majority - 91% (94) of respondents have been present at at least one ultrasound. By doing so, 66% (68) of fathers felt more connected to their baby. Fathers also took parenting classes (71%) and were present at the childbirth (85%). 86% of fathers expressed their wish to be present. During labour, most fathers encouraged their partners dealing with pain and supported them. Only 40% (32) of dads helped their partners breastfeed for the first time. 83% of fathers often or always talk to their children and play with them. Occasionally they help dressing the child (51%), but rarely help with feeding (14%). The majority - 90% (83) of fathers have or intend to take full paternity leave. Surprisingly, 87% of fathers share the housework with their partners. Discussion and conclusion: The results have shown that Slovene fathers are active in taking part in perinatal period and prepare for parenthood during the pregnancy. Despite that most fathers eagerly participate in the preparation for the newborns arrival, there is still 16% of dads that avoid it. It would be interesting to learn why this occurs, what causes it and how could a midwife encourange their involvement.
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