The life of the couple and feelings of parental competence

: With the birth of their first child a couple must learn to adapt to their new role as parents. During this learning process, their degree of comfort with their new identities as mother and father is linked to how they develop as competent parents. According to the ecological approach to human development, several variables influence parental competency. The marital relationship and the family dynamics are of special interest to the nurse who often has to evaluate the family system and intervene during the transition period to parenthood. This descriptive-correlative study is in direct response to provincial priorities aimed at promoting parenthood and providing better support to parents. Surveys were mailed to 133 couples with a one-year-old child to determine the nature of the link between the marital relationship, the family dynamics and the feeling of parental competency. The results confirm the importance of the nurses involved in evaluating these variables so that effective interventions can be developed to support and assist the couple--thus reinforcing their feelings of parental competency.