Primary mental health prevention in partners of mothers with a major mental illness: SMS4Dads

ABSTRACT

Background

Mental health promotion and prevention with expecting and new fathers has historically been challenging. Approximately 10% of this population report experiencing depression in the post-partum period and 18% report experiencing anxiety. This population may be further at risk if their partner has a mental illness.

Objective

To assess if information provided by SMS may be a way to reach a vulnerable population of new fathers with partners who have a mental illness.

Method

Twenty-three new and expecting fathers who have partners with a mental illness were engaged in a qualitative assessment of their experience with the SMS4Dads programme.

Results

This analysis showed that at risk new fathers appreciated the information received during the programme and reported acting on this, making changes in the way they interact with their children.

Conclusion

The combination of timely, accurate and practical information delivered in a novel way, likely contributed to the reports of improved interactions within the family unit.

KEYWORDS:

• Fathers
• infant
• SMS
• depression
• mental health

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded under the National Perinatal Depression Initiative. A Service Development Leader from The Queensland Centre for Perinatal and Infant Mental Health’s (QCPIMH) Strategy Team, coordinated and managed the research implementation and data collection project functions. The University of Newcastle were paid for their involvement and data management system and the two participating Queensland Health Mental Health Services were also paid for their involvement in the study.