“I always felt like I wasn't supposed to be there”. An international qualitative study of fathers’ engagement in family healthcare during transition to fatherhood

•Proactive engagement of fathers in family health services can confer benefits for the whole family.•Policy-level barriers to fathers’ inclusion in family healthcare are known such as the lack of parental leave for fathers, and maternal-focused family healthcare service provision•The qualitative survey study design facilitated a rich source of data from a large sample of fathers from multiple countries, and a wide range of models of family health care.•The findings provide a reliable and rich insight into the experiences of fathers when engaging in family healthcare and expose opportunities to improve service provision at multiple levels to adjust to the new paradigm of gender equity in family healthcare worldwide.