The majority (53%) had attended a WCV and 84% had been to see a doctor with their child in the past year. Only 2 fathers had attained a college degree or higher, and 84% of the fathers were employed at the time of the interview. The mean age was 31 years, and the sample was 56% black, 28% Hispanic, and 15% white 53% were nonmarried. Of those, 1 refused to participate, resulting in a final sample of 32 fathers and an adjusted response rate of 97%. Of the 50 fathers from the Time, Love, and Cash in Couples with Children study in the 2 cities, 3 had moved out of the state, 6 were in jail, 7 had been lost in earlier follow-up, and 1 had died, leaving 33 eligible respondents. Particular themes that were used for this study focused on ideals of father involvement and dis/satisfaction, barriers to, and experiences in the health care system. Coding and analysis were done using content analysis to identify themes. The open-ended questions were designed to allow detailed accounts and personal stories as told by the fathers. Questions focused on the father's overall involvement in his child's health care, the father's attendance and experiences at the doctor, health care decision-making between mother and father, assessment of focal child's health, gender/normative roles, and the father's health. Fathers in our study reside in Chicago or Milwaukee and were interviewed about health care issues for 1.5 hours when the focal child was 3 years of age. The 32 fathers who participated in our study come from a nested qualitative study called Time, Love, and Cash in Couples with Children. In-depth, semistructured, qualitative interviews were conducted in 2 cities with a subsample of fathers who were participating in the national Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study. The objective of this study was to explore fathers' involvement in, experience and satisfaction with, and barriers to WCVs using qualitative methods. Well-child visits (WCVs) represent opportunities for fathers to increase their involvement in their child's health care while learning valuable information about the health and development of their child. Fathers are a significant part of the child's medical home, and comprehensive involvement of both parents is ideal for the child's well-being and health. However, father involvement in health care has been studied little, especially among nonmarried, minority fathers. Father involvement is associated with positive cognitive, developmental, and sociobehavioral child outcomes such as improved weight gain in preterm infants, improved breastfeeding rates, higher receptive language skills, and higher academic achievement. Societal and economic shifts have expanded the roles that fathers play in their families.
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