FATHERS SMOKING AND USE OF ALCOHOL - THE VIEWPOINT OF MATERNITY HEALTH-CARE CLINICS AND WELL-BABY CLINICS

The study population consists of the fathers of the families which too k part in the project 'The Finnish Family Competence Study', conducted by the Department of Public Health, University of Turku. The initial phase of the study included 1279 men. At the onset of the study projec t their families were expecting their first baby. When examining the f athers' use of alcohol, it was found that those with the highest level of basic education and those in professional occupations had the high est frequency of alcohol use, but they only consumed small amounts of alcohol at a time. In contrast, industrial employees and those with a lower level of education used alcohol less frequently, but they used l arger amounts at a time. Thirty-two per cent of the respondents reduce d their drinking after the onset of the wife's pregnancy. Of the respo ndents 43.7% were smokers, 8.4% of whom stopped smoking after the onse t of the wife's pregnancy. Smoking cessation by the father was statist ically significantly explained by the fact that the wife had not smoke d before pregnancy or that she had stopped smoking after the onset of pregnancy, in which case the father did the same. When the fathers wer e divided into two categories according to their alcohol use, i.e. lig hter and heavier users, it was found that the latter group had a more negative attitude towards their children. Similarly, smoking fathers w ere found to have a more negative attitude towards their children than the non-smoking ones. The results of the present study point to the n ecessity for recognition of each family's needs and the introduction o f new kinds of care practices in family-centred and integrated care.