Paternal Wellbeing
Following on from our work around Women’s Health, Men’s Mental Health and what we have heard from our general engagement feedback, Healthwatch Cumberland launched our Paternal Wellbeing Project.
What is the difference between Paternal and Maternal?
Maternal is used to describe things relating to mothers or motherhood. Paternal is used to describe things relating to fathers and fatherhood. They both make distinctions based on gender. When it is not gender based the term parental can be used in their place.
This project will look at the experiences of paternity from a partner’s perspective living in Cumberland. From fertility issues, early loss and miscarriage through to traumatic birth experiences, baby loss and the challenges relating to new parenthood.
What we know
Becoming a new parent means experiencing a significant life change, marked by the immense responsibility of caring for a newborn baby. Aside from the obvious joy that it can bring to families, it can for many, be a time of stress and anxiety.
Traditionally and for many valid reasons, we see a great deal of attention, care and information directed towards the parent who gave birth from both care providers and families, but what about the partners?
There is relatively little research or service provision around the mental health and wellbeing implications for partners however, it has been reported that around 8% of fathers experience paternal postpartum depression. Factors such as associated stigma may reduce the accuracy of prevalence (Rao et al, 2020). This theory is supported by an evidence review in 2024 by the Scottish Government highlighted the variance in reported prevalence with quoted rates ranging from 4 – 25% in first time fathers.
Changes relating to lifestyle, finances, emotions, relationships, trauma and a huge feeling of responsibility, will no doubt impact on how they can feel throughout this period. For many reasons such as being too busy, too tired or fear of being labelled selfish, partners may keep their feelings hidden. We aim to change this by providing a platform for them to speak up.
What we want to do
By encouraging and empowering partners to share their stories and experiences we hope to highlight the challenges that they face, how having honest conversations can help and what provision there is out there for those who need it.