Table 3. Themes for the perceptions of fathers’ responsibility in child care.
| Themes | Data source | Times mentioned | Illustrative quotes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Financial and material support | Fathers FGD | 12 | “Yes, but even when the child is sick, you will need money so you have to be responsible. For foods and so on, for toys that the child may want because he will talk to the mother for that and she will send him to you” (Father, FGD 1) |
| IDI | 12 | “Find money, they usually think about food, always food. And yes, that’s true that when they are leaving the house, they are looking for money so that’s a responsibility already. But when they found the money, they don’t think much about anything else. They would just give the money to the mother and ask her to get food so the wife goes and prepares the food” (Field Monitor, IDI 7) | |
| General care activities and spending time when mothers are busy | Fathers FGD | 13 | “I do that sometimes [bathing] when my wife is busy” (Father, IDI 1) “The first responsibility a father has about child care is to soothe the child if the mother is not there, to feed him so that he can grow” (Father, FGD 2) |
| Support for mother with chores | Fathers FGD | 8 | “When raising a child, most of the time, we [fathers] have to get used to it so we have to participate in taking care of the child because the mother may be busy or you may even offer to do some of the things at home” (Father, FGD 3) |
| IDI | 1 | “Also, he [the father] should be helping the mother when she is busy” (CNA, IDI 4) |
|
| No caregiving responsibilities for fathers | IDI | 4 | “The father rarely takes care of the child (pause). Even when preparing the food for the child, buying it from the market, everything about the child, the mother does it. I really don’t see what the fathers are doing” (Nurse, IDI 8) “Most of the time, men think that they should just provide” (CNA, IDI 5) |
| Child stimulation: playing and teaching | Fathers FGD | 5 | “You have to make sure his [the child] mind grows” (Father, FGD 2) |
| Console the child | Fathers FGD | 5 | “Making them happy when their mother is not there” (Father, FGD 3) |
| Supervise mothers | Fathers FGD | 3 | Supervising is then what the fathers do most of the time but the real work is for the mother only (Father, FGD 3) |
FGD: Focus group discussions.
IDI: In-depth interviews with key informants.
CNA: Community nutrition agent.