Paternal postpartum depression: How can nurses begin to help?
Sherri Melrose
Centre for Nursing and Health Studies, Athabasca University, Alberta, Canada
PP: 199 - 210
Abstract
Men's emotional health can be overlooked during their partner's pregnancy and throughout the first postpartum year. Postpartum depression, once expected only in new mothers, is now estimated to occur in 4 to 25 percent of new fathers as well. The incidence of paternal postpartum depression is greater in couples where maternal postpartum depression is also present. Paternal postpartum depression can be difficult to assess. New fathers may seem more angry and anxious than sad. And yet, depression is present. When left untreated, paternal postpartum depression limits men's capacity to provide emotional support to their partners and children. This article reviews the incidence and prevalence of paternal postpartum depression, comments on tools to measure the disorder, identifies paternal behaviors that may indicate depression, examines the effects of parental depression on families and discusses what nurses can do to begin to help.
Keywords
Nursing, paternal postpartum depression, sad dads, parental depression
Article Text
Traditionally, postpartum depression has been construed as a disorder of women. However, as many as one in four new fathers may also experience devastating depression following the birth of their new baby (Goodman 2004; Madsen & Juhl 2007; Paulson, Dauber & Leiferman 2006; Pinheiro et al 2006; Ramchandani et al 2005). Adjusting to an infant impacts new fathers as well as new mothers. This article will review the incidence and prevalence of paternal postpartum depression, comment on tools to measure the disorder, identify paternal behaviors that may indicate depression, examine the effects of parental depression on families and discuss what nurses can do to begin to help.
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