EC Paediatrics

A preliminary survey on the implementation of a program to promote parenting by couples suggested that the idea of “parental involvement in education” positively affected parenting by couples. In response to these findings, we discussed “parental involvement in education” in the preliminary program and confirmed its effects on couples in the childrearing and pregnancy stages.

In the program implementation survey, we focused on the groups that had continued the program for 1 month and those that had not and looked at the changes at three timepoints: before, immediately after, and 1 month after the program.

The program was evaluated in terms of changes in the subscales of the couple parenting awareness scale— “emotional support for each other”, “concrete support for each other”, “difficulty in sharing responsibility”, and “agreement and negotiation in child-rearing”—and the effects of the program on attachment to the child and the Edinburgh postnatal depression scale (EPDS). The number of valid responses was 42 during pregnancy (21 women, 29.2 ± 2.7 years old; 21 men, 30.3 ± 2.1 years old) and 278 during childrearing (128 women, 32.3 ± 4.0 years old; 150 men, 33.8 ± 3.4 years old).

The program significantly improved the scores on the subscale of the parental attitudes scale immediately after the program; however, the effect was influenced by whether the program was continued after 1 month. The increase in fathers’ awareness of their participation in education positively affected couple parenting, and the inhibition of attachment to children and decrease in EPDS scores were the result of multiple factors working together. The factor believed to have contributed to this was the continuation of the program, and the factors contributing to program continuation were remembering the content of the program and being conscious of it. Furthermore, more significant effects were observed in subjects in the childrearing period than in those in the pregnancy period.

 Keywords: Co-parenting; Program; Couples; Parenting; Pregnancy

1. Belsky J and Kelly J. “The transition to parenthood”. Originally published by Delacorte Press, Bantram Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc. New York Japanese translation rights arranged with Jay Belsky and John Kelly c/o Lowenstein Associates Inc, New York through Tuttle-Mori Agency, Inc: Tokyo (1994).
2. McHale JP and Lindahl KM. “Coparenting: A Conceptual and clinical examination of family systems”. Washington DC: American Psychological Association (2011).
3. Feinberg ME. “The internal structure and ecological context of co-parenting. A framework for research and intervention”. Parenting, Science and Practice2 (2003): 95-131.
4. Takeishi Y., et al. “Implementing a program to promote co-parenting as part of prenatal education”. The Japanese Journal for Midwwives Igaku Shoin9 (2019b): 762-767.
5. Sayuri Y., et al. “Influence of marital and coparenting relationships on depressive symptoms in parents raising a preschool child”. Journal of Japan Academy of Nursing Science 43 (2023): 174-182.
6. Riko O., et al. “Features of midwives’ support at a birth center to promote Co-parenting”. Medicine and Biology4 (2023): 1-11.
7. Benesse Educational Research Institute. “Pregnancy, childbirth, and childcare basic survey/follow-up survey”. Longitudinal Survey (2011): 2006-2009.
8. Yoshiko S. “Short Colo-parenting awareness scale and the relationship with parenting happiness, parenting stress, and Husband’s parenting behaviors”. Journal of Nursing & Midwifery Research1 (2023c): 1-10.
9. Yoshiko S. “Developing a short version of the co-parenting awareness scale through confirmatory factor analysis: Associations with parenting time, number of children, age of children, and prenatal discussions”. EC Pediatrics 10 (2023b): 1-15.
10. Yoshiko S. “Attempts to implement a program to promote co-parenting for couples in the parenting phase”. EC Pediatrics5 (2024): 1-16.
11. Yoshiko S and Nobuhiko S. “Developing a new co-parenting awareness scale for measuring effective co-parenting awareness strategies: Relationship with attribute/parental awareness development”. Clinics in Mother and Child Health 20 (2023a): 1000445.
12. Brockington IF., et al. “A screening questionnaire for mother-infant bonding disorders”. Archives of Women’s Mental Health 4 (2001): 133-140.
13. Kaneko H and Honjo S. “The psychometric properties and factor structure of the postpartum bonding questionnaire in Japanese mothers”. Psychology 9 (2014): 1135-1142.
14. Yoshida K., et al. “A Japanese version of Mother-to-Infant Bonding Scale: Factor structure, longitudinal changes and links with maternal mood during the early postnatal period in Japanese mothers”. Archives of Women’s Mental Health5 (2012): 343-352.
15. Cox JL., et al. “Detection of postnatal depression: Development of the 10-item Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale”. British Journal of Psychiatry6 (1987): 782-786.
16. Global Gender Gap Report 2023. PDF (www3.weforum.org) (2023).
17. Okayama K. “A review of the Literature on the marital relationship and supports to a pregnant wife by her husband”. Journal of the Japan Academy of Nursing Research5 (2002): 15-25.
18. Nakajima K and Tokiwa Y. “Couple’s perception of husband’s involvement that wives find satisfying in the first trimester”. Journal of Japan Midwifery Society1 (2011): 45-56.
19. Yoko M. “The effect of becoming fathers on Men’s Development”. The Japanese Journal of Developmental Psychology2 (2006): 182-192.
20. Okano T., et al. “Translation and validation of the Japanese version of the EPDS”. Archives of Psychiatric Diagnostics and Clinica Evaluation 7 (1996): 525-533.