Applied Research in Consulting

Parents' lived experience in the transition to parenthood

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

marzieh hasanzadeh 1
roya rasooli 2
mahsima pourshahriari 2

1 Family Counseling, Educational Sciences and Psychology, Al-Zahra University, Tehran, Iran

2 Department of Counseling, Faculty of Education & Psychology, University of Alzahra, Tehran, Iran

Abstract
The present study was conducted with the aim of investigating the lived experience in the transition to parenthood. This research tried to take a deep look at the phenomenon of becoming a parent as one of the most important periods in the family life cycle. For this purpose, with qualitative approach and phenomenological method and using targeted sampling, in-depth and semi-structured interviews were conducted with 28 new parents (16 mothers and 12 fathers) with children aged 3 months to 2 years who lived in Shiraz city in 1402. Then, the data obtained from the interview was analyzed using the Interpretive Phenomenology analysis (IPA) method. The analysis of participants' experiences led to the identification of 48 primary semantic codes, 5 subcategories and 2 main categories of "individual experiences and couple relationship experiences". The results showed that upon entering the parenthood period, people experienced changes in their individual lifestyles and experienced many positive and negative feelings and emotions within themselves. By discussing the nature of the phenomenon of parents' lived experience in the transition to parenthood, this study provides a deeper insight into the experiences of parents entering the role of parents to experts and family and marriage counselors.

Keywords

Lived experience
Transition to parenthood
Childbearing
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