Abstract
Introduction: The family lives sociocultural transformations requesting more of the man in the children's daily cares with deficiency because commonly the mothers wrap up in the tasks causing an overload in the daily tasks.
Objective
To verify the paternal participation in the daily care to the child with microcephaly, to trace the paternal socio-demographic profile, to know the main activities performed by the fathers and to analyze their perception in the participation of the children daily cares.
Method
This is a quantitative and qualitative study, held in 3 Specialized Centers in Rehabilitation in the city of Maceio, AL, Brazil, with 23 fathers of children with microcephaly, in the period of September of 2017 to February of 2018. For the quantitative component, a specific questionnaire and analysis through descriptive statistics, arithmetic average and percentage were used. In the qualitative component, a semi-structured interview was used that was analyzed through the Analysis of Content.
Results
Most of the fathers live with the child, 70% make available 2 hours of time for the son's daily care, and there was a larger paternal engagement in the activities of playing on 74% and social participation on 91%. In the qualitative component, 4 parents participated in the interview, and three thematic categories emerged: Paternal perception and self-assessment regarding the participation in the daily care of the child with microcephaly; Factors associated with paternal engagement in the daily care; and Identification of the activities performed by the fathers in the care to the child with microcephaly.
Conclusion
The fathers engaged in daily care to assist the mothers and not as the protagonist. It stands out the need for strategies that favor such participation in the dimensions of the care to the child with a disability.
Keywords:
Social Participation; Paternity; Child Care; Disabled Children