“The Financial Is the Main Issue, It’s Not Even the Child”: Exploring the Role of Finances in Men’s Concepts of Fatherhood and Fertility Intention
Despite demonstrable need, men’s utilization of sexual and reproductive health services remains low. This low utilization may particularly affect low-income men, given the disproportionate prevalence of unintended pregnancy in low-income populations. Bolstering men’s utilization of sexual and reprod...
Main Authors: | , , , , |
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Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
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SAGE Publishing
2018-07-01
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Series: | American Journal of Men's Health |
Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1177/1557988318775189 |
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author | Megan Hamm PhD Elizabeth Miller MD, PhD Lovie Jackson Foster PhD Mario Browne MPH Sonya Borrero MD,MS |
author_facet | Megan Hamm PhD Elizabeth Miller MD, PhD Lovie Jackson Foster PhD Mario Browne MPH Sonya Borrero MD,MS |
author_sort | Megan Hamm PhD |
collection | DOAJ |
description | Despite demonstrable need, men’s utilization of sexual and reproductive health services remains low. This low utilization may particularly affect low-income men, given the disproportionate prevalence of unintended pregnancy in low-income populations. Bolstering men’s utilization of sexual and reproductive health services requires understanding the services that are most relevant to them. Semistructured interviews about fatherhood, fertility intention, and contraceptive use were conducted with 58 low-income Black and White men in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The interviews were analyzed using content analysis to determine common themes that were most relevant to the men interviewed. The primacy of financial stability emerged as a dominant theme in men’s perceptions of fatherhood readiness, successful fathering, and fertility intentions. However, men had children despite feeling financially unprepared, and their contraceptive use was not always congruent with their stated fertility intentions. Some men described financial services as a feature of family planning services that they would find useful. Because of the salience of financial stability in preparation for fatherhood, integrating financial counseling and job skills training into the context of sexual and reproductive health services could be a useful structural intervention to increase men’s use of family planning services and to provide them with the support they say they need as fathers. |
first_indexed | 2024-12-14T19:40:32Z |
format | Article |
id | doaj.art-8c5b1a4c11e3420ead1aa068d0801562 |
institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
issn | 1557-9883 1557-9891 |
language | English |
last_indexed | 2024-12-14T19:40:32Z |
publishDate | 2018-07-01 |
publisher | SAGE Publishing |
record_format | Article |
series | American Journal of Men's Health |
spelling | doaj.art-8c5b1a4c11e3420ead1aa068d08015622022-12-21T22:49:43ZengSAGE PublishingAmerican Journal of Men's Health1557-98831557-98912018-07-011210.1177/1557988318775189“The Financial Is the Main Issue, It’s Not Even the Child”: Exploring the Role of Finances in Men’s Concepts of Fatherhood and Fertility IntentionMegan Hamm PhD0Elizabeth Miller MD, PhD1Lovie Jackson Foster PhD2Mario Browne MPH3Sonya Borrero MD,MS4Center for Research on Healthcare, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USACenter for Women’s Health Research and Innovation, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USAUniversity of Pittsburgh School of Social Work, Pittsburgh, PA, USAUniversity of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Sciences, Pittsburgh, PA, USACenter for Health Equity Research and Promotion, VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System, Pittsburgh, PA, USADespite demonstrable need, men’s utilization of sexual and reproductive health services remains low. This low utilization may particularly affect low-income men, given the disproportionate prevalence of unintended pregnancy in low-income populations. Bolstering men’s utilization of sexual and reproductive health services requires understanding the services that are most relevant to them. Semistructured interviews about fatherhood, fertility intention, and contraceptive use were conducted with 58 low-income Black and White men in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The interviews were analyzed using content analysis to determine common themes that were most relevant to the men interviewed. The primacy of financial stability emerged as a dominant theme in men’s perceptions of fatherhood readiness, successful fathering, and fertility intentions. However, men had children despite feeling financially unprepared, and their contraceptive use was not always congruent with their stated fertility intentions. Some men described financial services as a feature of family planning services that they would find useful. Because of the salience of financial stability in preparation for fatherhood, integrating financial counseling and job skills training into the context of sexual and reproductive health services could be a useful structural intervention to increase men’s use of family planning services and to provide them with the support they say they need as fathers.https://doi.org/10.1177/1557988318775189 |
spellingShingle | Megan Hamm PhD Elizabeth Miller MD, PhD Lovie Jackson Foster PhD Mario Browne MPH Sonya Borrero MD,MS “The Financial Is the Main Issue, It’s Not Even the Child”: Exploring the Role of Finances in Men’s Concepts of Fatherhood and Fertility Intention American Journal of Men's Health |
title | “The Financial Is the Main Issue, It’s Not Even the Child”: Exploring the Role of Finances in Men’s Concepts of Fatherhood and Fertility Intention |
title_full | “The Financial Is the Main Issue, It’s Not Even the Child”: Exploring the Role of Finances in Men’s Concepts of Fatherhood and Fertility Intention |
title_fullStr | “The Financial Is the Main Issue, It’s Not Even the Child”: Exploring the Role of Finances in Men’s Concepts of Fatherhood and Fertility Intention |
title_full_unstemmed | “The Financial Is the Main Issue, It’s Not Even the Child”: Exploring the Role of Finances in Men’s Concepts of Fatherhood and Fertility Intention |
title_short | “The Financial Is the Main Issue, It’s Not Even the Child”: Exploring the Role of Finances in Men’s Concepts of Fatherhood and Fertility Intention |
title_sort | the financial is the main issue it s not even the child exploring the role of finances in men s concepts of fatherhood and fertility intention |
url | https://doi.org/10.1177/1557988318775189 |
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