Equipping fathers to support distressed mothers: What do mothers want fathers to know and do?

Abstract

Issue AddressedUp to one in five new mothers experience depression or anxiety, and their partners are often the first line of social and practical support. However, many fathers are unprepared for their role as support person. The SMS4dads program (www.sms4dads.com) provides text‐based support to new fathers but lacks specific messages addressing maternal mental distress.MethodsA mixed methods process engaged mothers with lived experience of perinatal mental distress to identify message content for co‐designing texts in SMS4dads. Participants completed surveys derived from research literature and parenting websites using the theoretical framework of support domains: emotional or affectionate support, informational support, tangible support and positive social interaction. Mothers also indicated the most appropriate timing of support: at the point of identifying the distress (emerging), with ongoing symptoms (persistent) or during recovery (easing). Free text comments from mothers were linked to survey topics to provide examples of wording suitable for text messages to fathers.ResultsFifty‐five mothers with lived experience completed the surveys. All support items were more often endorsed as helpful rather than not helpful by mothers. Emotional support was thought helpful in the early stages, tangible support was valued with ongoing symptoms and social interaction appreciated as symptoms eased.ConclusionsMothers experiencing perinatal depression and anxiety require a range of supportive actions by their partners, including household tasks and baby‐care, encouragement, listening and managing relationships with family and friends.So What?Information provided by distressed mothers can provide guidance to professionals when designing information for fathers/partners. Digital delivery of this co‐designed information to fathers across urban and rural areas may enhance the competence of fathers working to support mothers experiencing mental distress in the perinatal period.

Engaging culturally diverse fathers in maternal and family healthcare: Experiences and perspectives of healthcare professionals

“…Central to the improvements suggested by healthcare professionals, is the recognition that family healthcare services in the perinatal period are focused on women and children and can be improved by including the perspective and roles of fathers and partners when services are designed and implemented. This is consistent with existing calls for more father‐inclusive practice among clinicians and researchers 2,3 …”

“…This is consistent with existing calls for more father-inclusive practice among clinicians and researchers. 2,3 Given the influence of intersectionality in shaping culturally diverse fathers' experiences, it is necessary to ensure that training for healthcare professionals recognises the influence of culture on fathering. This suggests that when designing father-inclusive training programs, resource developers need to consider the experiences of culturally diverse fathers explicitly, otherwise their perspectives and needs may be lost among the perspectives of the majority cultural group.…”

“…‘Father‐inclusive’ 1 practice refers to services that are designed and implemented in a way that incorporates an understanding of the role and experiences of fathers, in addition to addressing the needs of women and children 2,3 . Father‐inclusive practice is recommended both in Australia 4 and internationally 5…”

“…'Father-inclusive' 1 practice refers to services that are designed and implemented in a way that incorporates an understanding of the role and experiences of fathers, in addition to addressing the needs of women and children. 2,3 Father-inclusive practice is recommended both in Australia 4 and internationally. 5 Although father inclusiveness is frequently espoused and there is increasing consideration of fathers in the practice literature, fathers report barriers to engaging in perinatal healthcare, including at the individual, community and health service level.…”

Hostile interparental conflict and parental discipline: Romantic attachment as a spillover mechanism.

“…More specifically, prior work has found that mothers not only show considerable emotional and physiological reactivity to family conflict (Sears et al, 2016; Sturge-Apple et al, 2009), but mothers also tend to operate as mediators of relationship discord within the romantic and parent–child relationships (Heaton & Blake, 1999; Li et al, 2020; Vuchinich et al, 1988). Thus, the competing demands of having to monitor the emotional integrity of the family may be particularly taxing to mothers of young children who are also responsible for many of the primary caregiving responsibilities within U.S. samples (Fletcher et al, 2023; Schoppe-Sullivan et al, 2013).…”