Developing Partner Awareness and Empathy in New Parents: the Great Parents’ Quiz

Abstract

Partner affectional support and understanding are key elements in prevention of postnatal distress in new mothers. The traditional way of encouraging such empathic support and communication may not lead to an increase in the suggested behaviours. This study investigated the impact of an innovative way to promote such behaviours: use of a quiz or mothers and fathers which requires each partner to guess how the other is experiencing parenthood, and to facilitate communication between them on this topic. In a pilot study 51 parents of young infants were randomly assigned either to receive the quiz or be exposed to the pamphlets commonly available. Home or telephone interviews were conducted later. Nearly all the quiz participants felt very positively about this resource, reporting that their partner had found out something new about them by doing the quiz. The Great Parent's Quiz is a helpful resource for parents of infants and toddlers which increases couple communication and empathy. It can be made available to all parents through routinely accessed community services and does not require the input of a health professional. Further work is needed to explore which parents benefit the most from it.

Keywords:

• perinatal mental health
• postnatal depression
• prevention
• literature
• fathers
• mothers