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Research Article| Volume 14, ISSUE 6, P369-378, December 1999

Out of their element: Fathers of children who are “not the same”

  • Steven L. Baumann
    Correspondence
    Address reprint requests to Steven L. Baumann, RN, PhD, CS, GNP, Hunter-Bellevue School of Nursing, Hunter College of the City University of New York, 425 E 25th St, New York, NY 10010-2590.
    Affiliations
    Hunter-Bellevue School of Nursing, Hunter College of the City University of New York, NY

    Ingram Visiting Nurses, Lansing, MI, USA
    Search for articles by this author
  • Marybeth Braddick
    Affiliations
    Hunter-Bellevue School of Nursing, Hunter College of the City University of New York, NY

    Ingram Visiting Nurses, Lansing, MI, USA
    Search for articles by this author
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      The purpose of this research was to ascertain the meaning of fathering for fathers of children with congenital anomalies. The human becoming theory was the theoretical perspective for this descriptive-exploratory study. Findings showed that fathering for these participants is a desire to grasp the situation, mingled with disturbing feelings, while facing one's limits and gives rise to comforting views. Comfortable-uncomfortable ways of being with others emerge as fathering shifts one from the familiar to the unfamiliar, surfacing the joy-sorrow of the always-changing “now” and the unpredictable “not yet.” Implications for further research and practice are also discussed.
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