Table 3 Survey domains and Interview themes with illustrative quotes

1.Role Perceptions

1.1 Active participant

……exercise and level of activity, I think, even if kids aren’t completely

mirroring what their parents are doing, they’re still heavily influenced

by that (F2,postgrad)

But I like to talk about the different foods. You know what’s the nutritional

value. What can you make with it? I enjoy interacting with him about

that (F7, high school)

1.2 Supporter

If I can help out and do anything to help her, I will, and it gave me a role to

fill I’m giving support (F13, undergrad)¹

Paternity leave is something that’s important to me, the women in our

workplace have been supported and the blokes are just expected to get

on with it and keep working through the whole thing (F15 undergrad)¹

1.3 Bread winner

In my house growing up, it was the dad goes off to work and the mum stays

at home with the kids and all that (F13, undergrad degree)¹

I heard unfortunately, quite regularly from dad that a woman’s place was in

the kitchen (F5, trade/TAFE)¹

1.4 Play partner

….but then, when we got a little bit older, I went to mum for affection and

love, and I went to Dad when I wanted some rough housing (F3, Trade/TAFE)

One reason that I like to promote both nutrition and physical activities, is

because my dad also promoted that. He was proactive on, as a kid trying

different nutritional foods, getting out playing sports (F11, postgrad)

2. Self-efficacy

2.1 Now what

I do remember leaving the hospital and I looked at my partner and we said, is

this ours, are we allowed to leave with this child? (F13, undergrad)²

I had difficulty adjusting. I was prepared and feeling confident, but then we

had the kid and I had a feeling that I had no idea what I was doing. I was

just completely overwhelmed (F3, Trade/TAFE) ²

2.2 I’ve got this

You have this added responsibility, and all of a sudden you go, hey, I can do

this. Why can I do such and such at work and now, why can’t I look after

a newborn? And your confidence does go up (F1, trade/TAFE) ²

Physical things is something I should be good at, even if it’s simple, like let’s

go and kick a ball. But it might be something that you do as children get

older, so not necessarily in the formative years (F4, trade/TAFE)

2.3 Rejection – the great fear

Whenever I cook a new meal for him, I know I have to get out of the house

for my wife to feed him. I can’t handle the direct feedback that you get

from a child who’s not conscious of how you’re feeling (F18, undergrad)

I like to cook, but you get deflated when they don’t eat it. But when you play

you get that feedback that she’s having a good time (F12, trade/TAFE)

2.4 Confidence

….I had more confidence with the cooking and meal prep. Only because I‘ve

had to cook and prepare meals for myself my whole life (F2, postgrad)

through practice

Our puppy likes it when I rub his belly. So okay, this is slightly more

complex [play with baby]. I learn like that. Playing with kids was less

known. My confidence was lower in that to begin with (F11, undergrad)

3. Support Needs

3.1 Just along for the ride

….they [other dads] don’t have a lot of involvement or buy in, they’re kind of

just yeah, just do as I am told kind of thing (F6, trade/TAFE)

A lot of guys [describing other dads] aren’t going to reach out and say, I don’t

understand this. They will just sit in the corner of the maternity ward or

whatever and just nod or say, I kind of got the hang of that (F2, postgrad)

3.2 I need a compass

I don’t consider myself an expert in health care. So, I do get confounded by

the way, healthcare people communicate things (F8, trade/TAFE)

There’s empowerment when I got that little bit of info to start off with. I

could go to my wife with suggestions, and she would tell me – hey, all

right thanks, we were going down the wrong path (F10, undergrad)

3.3 Dads preferences

I like little sort of learning, by little bite size bits of stuff. Videos of nothing

more then maybe a minute and thirty seconds (F7, high school)

The app - baby sensor, it was very helpful. During the pregnancy it was a very

useful for breastfeeding and all these other things (F9, undergrad)

3.4 Bromances

I need like another outlet, being able to have another dad around has

absolutely been beneficial (F5, trade/TAFE).

The podcast Dad’s for dads, it’s kind of like having a beer with your mates,

just talking shit. How do you deal with this or that, they call it the Poo

Army. It’s just like the actual functional things (F13, trade/TAFE)