Giving fathers a voice : the father’s experience of his wife going through perinatal mental health difficulties

Abstract

This study explores the lived experience of first-time fathers as their wives passed through mental health difficulties in the perinatal period. The perinatal period is the time between pregnancy and one year postpartum where research shows an increased susceptibility for the development of maternal mental health issues. The participants include four first-time fathers whose wives had been referred to the Perinatal Mental Health Service at Mater Dei Hospital during the perinatal period, receiving a primary clinical psychiatric diagnosis of anxiety, based on the tenth edition of the International Classification of Diseases. An interpretative phenomenological approach was taken to conduct this study. The analysis resulted in five super-ordinate themes: “It’s not just the perinatal mental health difficulties, it’s not just the pregnancy, it’s everything”; “Whirlwind of emotions”; “Doing the best I could to support her through this”; “The toll of it all: impact of the perinatal anxiety” and “The bittersweet experience of reaching out to family, friends and professionals”. These themes highlight the complexity of the transition to fatherhood in light of maternal perinatal mental health difficulties, specifically maternal perinatal anxiety. Methods of credibility used in this study included reflexivity interviews, self-reflexivity, the presentation of an audit trail and engaging in a relational consultation to bridge the gender gap between myself and the participants. Amongst the implications for practice that arose, the most salient is in giving importance to listening to the father’s needs and experience and supporting them in the context of the couple relationship, and also individually.