A White Rose Collaboration in Gender and Perinatal Mental Health

Lead Academic -Dr  Zoe Darwin (Leeds)
Dr Paul Galdas (York)
Dr Sharron Hinchliff (Sheffield
National and international policy recognises the need for perinatal services to involve and support fathers during and after pregnancy. Despite depression during pregnancy and the first postnatal year affecting approximately 10% of male partners, ‘father-inclusive’ services are not yet evident in practice. Little is known about how paternal perinatal depression is understood and articulated by fathers, and what makes perinatal mental health resources effective, accessible and acceptable for men.
Objectives:
i.            Establish a cross-disciplinary virtual centre of excellence in gender and perinatal mental health by bringing together experts in men’s health, psychosocial aspects of reproductive health, and mental health across the Universities of Leeds, Sheffield and York.
ii.            Harness the potential of an existing prospective, longitudinal cohort (Born and Bred in Yorkshire, BaBY) to conduct essential pump-priming work that will explore how mental health during pregnancy and after the birth is understood and articulated by fathers.
iii.            Obtain further funding through the NIHR Health Services and Delivery Research (HS&DR) Programme to develop and evaluate effective, accessible, and acceptable perinatal resources for male partners.
Paper – Fathers’ views and experiences of their own mental health during pregnancy and the first postnatal year: a qualitative interview study of men participating in the UK Born and Bred in Yorkshire (BaBY) cohort
: https://bmcpregnancychildbirth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12884-017-1229-4

Fathers mental health report of roundtable event

Other academics involved with this project
Professor Linda McGowan, University of Leeds
Dr Dean McMillan, University of York
Professor Simon Gilbody, University of York
Dr Pat Ansell, University of York
Professor Eve Roman, University of York
Dr Liz Littlewood, University of York
Dr Kate Reed, University of Sheffield