‘Be There, Listen, See What It Is They Need’: Fathers' Roles in Supporting Black Mothers During Pregnancy

ABSTRACT There is a critical public health crisis regarding the infant mortality rate between black and white mothers in the USA. This issue is more pronounced in North Carolina, where black infants have a much higher infant mortality rate than whites. We utilized a qualitative approach to understand the paternal support of black mothers during the perinatal period. Purposive sampling was used to recruit parents from an infant development center to conduct semi‐structured interviews with black mothers and men who had fathered children with black mothers. We explore the concepts of father involvement, barriers to involvement and the existing support for fathers. The results suggest that early parental communication, fathers as team players, listening and hearing mothers, fathering roles and realistic expectations of expecting fathers are important relational situations that impact paternal involvement during pregnancy. These findings support the need for a multifaceted approach to support fathers as a resource for improving black maternal health outcomes.