The authors reviewed the empirical literature concerning the use of twelve-step programs and treatments by patients with co-occurring substance use disorders and other psychiatric disorders. Strong evidence was found that dually diagnosed individuals (DDI), with the possible exception of those with psychotic disorders, attend twelve-step programs at rates comparable to non-DDI. Twelve-step involvement is consistently associated with improved substance use outcomes. Although there have been numerous clinical trials involving twelve step-oriented interventions for DDI, most of the studies suffered from substantial methodological limitations. More work is needed to determine what kinds of twelve-step treatments and programs are effective for various types of patients and elucidate the mechanisms by which these approaches facilitate recovery.

Paternal perinatal depression and anxiety is a common, though under-recognized mental health condition experienced by men during their transition to fatherhood. An opportunity to screen for paternal mental health issues occurs when parents present for assistance with the care of their baby at early parenting services (EPSs). There are 10 EPSs located across Australia that provide specialist, multidisciplinary interventions to support parents experiencing complex parenting difficulties. Using structured telephone interviews, this qualitative study explored the views of 18 professional staff from nine EPSs regarding screening, referral processes and acceptability of screening fathers for mental health issues. A thematic analysis revealed that most EPSs screened fathers for depression. Participants agreed screening was important and that routine approaches to screening would help normalize the process for both men and services. Despite this, no uniform, comprehensive approach to identifying the mental health needs of fathers was found. EPSs provide a unique opportunity to address the mental health needs of fathers. Results from this study point to the need for a national approach to the development of father-specific screening guidelines for EPSs to improve family well-being, in parallel to those informing the Australian National Perinatal Mental Health Initiative for mothers.

Increasing amounts of research show that fathers' involvement in children's lives contributes to the child's social, emotional and cognitive development; however, much of the evidence comes from fathers' caregiving and object play. This exploratory study compared the characteristics of 24 Australian fathers' play in two contexts -toy play and physical play -and examined the association of these play contexts with children's development. Correlational analyses revealed few conceptual similarities between toy play and physical play (rough-and-tumble). Rough-and-tumble quality was associated with children's emotional and behavioural functioning and self-regulation, while intrusiveness in toy play related only to self-regulation. The findings are discussed in terms of widening the conceptual and methodological reach of fathering measures in order to better capture the range of fathers' parenting behaviours and to be able to determine mechanisms of influence.

Rough-and-tumble play (RTP) RTP behaviours have been observed in many mammalian species including mice, deer dolphins, goats, sea lions and humans (Brown, 1998; Blomqvist,

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The coparenting relationship has been linked to parenting stress, parenting self-efficacy and many other concerns associated with the development of children with ASD. Parents of children with ASD (N = 22) were interviewed to explore three domains of their coparenting relationship; (1) adaptation to the emergence of their child's autism, (2) parenting their child with ASD, (3) expectations for their child's developmental outcomes. The concept of coparenting competence, developed during analysis, describes collective perceptions of parenting efficacy. Parents linked perceptions of coparenting competence to their, ability to cope with diagnosis and parenting, motivation to do what they could for their child, and hopes for their child's development. The concept of coparenting competence could play an important role in future research and intervention.

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