Associate Professor Richard Fletcher

© 2017, © The Author(s) 2017. Paternal perinatal depression and anxiety is a common, though under-recognized mental health condition experienced by men during their transition to fatherhood. An opportunity to screen for paternal mental health issues occurs when parents present for assistance with the care of their baby at early parenting services (EPSs). There are 10 EPSs located across Australia that provide specialist, multidisciplinary interventions to support parents experiencing complex parenting difficulties. Using structured telephone interviews, this qualitative study explored the views of 18 professional staff from nine EPSs regarding screening, referral processes and acceptability of screening fathers for mental health issues. A thematic analysis revealed that most EPSs screened fathers for depression. Participants agreed screening was important and that routine approaches to screening would help normalize the process for both men and services. Despite this, no uniform, comprehensive approach to identifying the mental health needs of fathers was found. EPSs provide a unique opportunity to address the mental health needs of fathers. Results from this study point to the need for a national approach to the development of father-specific screening guidelines for EPSs to improve family well-being, in parallel to those informing the Australian National Perinatal Mental Health Initiative for mothers.

© 2017 The Author(s) Risky paternal alcohol use is associated with maternal alcohol use during pregnancy, poor fetal and infant outcomes, domestic violence and depression. This study developed 30 SMS text messages about alcohol for fathers who drink at risky levels. The text messages were developed using two motivational styles: messages presented in a second person voice and the same messages presented in a child¿s voice. Fifty-one fathers were recruited through social media to complete an online survey rating the SMS text messages for message importance and likelihood of seeking further information and measuring risky alcohol use and psychosocial distress. Seventeen participants then participated in a semi-structured qualitative interview. Fathers rated the text messages presented in the child¿s voice as more important than messages presented in the second person. Qualitative data supported survey results that motivational SMS text messages could provide an acceptable way to raise awareness of risky alcohol consumption for future fathers.

© La Trobe University 2017. Young Aboriginal fathers face social and emotional challenges in the transition to fatherhood, yet culturally appropriate support mechanisms are lacking. Peer mentoring to develop online- and mobile phone-based resources and support may be a viable approach to successfully engage these young men. This feasibility study engaged two trusted Aboriginal mentors and researchers to partner with one regional and two rural Aboriginal communities in New South Wales, Australia. Early in the research process, 20 young Aboriginal fathers were recruited as co-investigators. These fathers were integral in the development of web-based resources and testing of mobile phone-based text messaging and mood-tracking programs tailored to provide fathering and mental health support. Overwhelmingly positive feedback from evaluations reinforced community pride in and ownership of the outcomes. The young men's involvement was instrumental in not only developing culturally appropriate support, but also in building their capacity as role models for other fathers in the community. The positive results from this feasibility study support the adoption of participatory approaches in the development of resources for Aboriginal communities.

© 2017, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC. The coparenting relationship has been linked to parenting stress, parenting self-efficacy and many other concerns associated with the development of children with ASD. Parents of children with ASD (N = 22) were interviewed to explore three domains of their coparenting relationship; (1) adaptation to the emergence of their child¿s autism, (2) parenting their child with ASD, (3) expectations for their child¿s developmental outcomes. The concept of coparenting competence, developed during analysis, describes collective perceptions of parenting efficacy. Parents linked perceptions of coparenting competence to their, ability to cope with diagnosis and parenting, motivation to do what they could for their child, and hopes for their child¿s development. The concept of coparenting competence could play an important role in future research and intervention.

© 2016 Society for Reproductive and Infant Psychology. Objective: The project aimed to test of the quality and acceptability of researcher-developed Short Message Service (SMS) messages designed to support fathers of infants aged 12 months or less. Background: The findings of previous studies suggest antenatal and postnatal depression among fathers¿ impacts negatively on the health of family members. Method: Draft messages were first modified based on expert review. In a second phase, parents (mothers n¿=¿56; fathers n¿=¿46; unknown n¿=¿4) were recruited through two early childhood parenting services to rate the clarity, usefulness and relevance of the 70 SMS messages using a paper-based survey. In a third phase, 15 fathers were recruited to receive texts at different times over three weeks. Results: Findings suggest that SMS items were easily understood by the majority of parents, with only 3% of responses indicating an item was ¿not easily understood¿. Feedback from parents indicated that negatively rated SMS messages were considered as either poorly phrased, lacking enough information or as not offering sufficient support. The majority (88%) of the SMS items were also rated as ¿useful¿ by the parents. Conclusion: Fathers¿ responses indicated that receiving the texts at different times was acceptable and that message content was relevant to their fathering. The study has produced a set of brief text messages suitable and acceptable to new fathers and their partners.

Unintentional injury is an important cause of infant and child hospitalisation and parents play a key role in reducing children's risk-taking behaviour. Studies show that maternal and paternal parenting and supervision of children differ, but there is little research showing how fathers¿ parenting may influence children's tendency to engage in risk-taking behaviour. Recent theoretical developments suggest that father's parenting may be particularly effective in encouraging safe risk taking. In this study, we examine how well parenting practices typically undertaken by fathers predict rates of children's injury risk at three years. Questionnaire data were collected from 46 fathers. Results show that both duration of rough-and-tumble play and fathers¿ encouragement of perseverance predicted lower rates of injury behaviours, while their stimulation of risk taking predicted higher rates of injury behaviours. The results are discussed in the light of developmentally appropriate risk taking and fathering.

© , Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. SYNOPSIS: Objective. Coparenting quality has been linked to both parenting stress and parenting self-efficacy in families of typically developing children, but little is known about relations between these factors in families where there is a child with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This study employed structural equation modeling to explore relations among coparenting quality, autism-specific parenting self-efficacy, and parenting stress in mothers and fathers of children with an ASD. Design. A cohort of biological mothers (n = 80) and fathers (n = 72) who were caring for their young child (age < 13) with a diagnosed ASD self-completed validated surveys assessing parenting stress, coparenting quality, and autism-specific parenting self-efficacy. Results. Both mothers and fathers reported high and similar levels of parenting stress which shared predictive relations with both coparenting quality and autism-specific parenting self-efficacy. Structural equation modeling demonstrated that the relations between perceptions of autism-specific parenting self-efficacy and parenting stress were mediated by coparenting quality. Conclusion. Coparenting quality shares an important relation with parenting stress in both mothers and fathers of children with an ASD, and enhanced perceptions of autism-specific parenting self-efficacy are unlikely to influence parenting stress when parents experience poor quality coparenting.

The present-day involvement of men in many facets of childrearing stands in contrast to previous eras when men accepted that the major task of fathering was to provide a secure income to support the family. This imperative often required long hours away from the family. However, when men whose contact with children has been limited due to work and cultural constraints retire, their newly acquired lifestyle may bring fresh opportunities for involvement with grandchildren. An important question therefore concerns the impact of caring for young children on men's perceptions of their role as grandfathers. This interview study explores the experiences of 19 Australian grandfathers. The analysis found themes that relate to relationships and change, as well as themes concerning core beliefs and existential questions. The findings demonstrate the potential for insight into family relationships and personal growth in older age when studying the topic of grandparenting and caring from the male perspective. © 2014, Baywood Publishing Co., Inc.

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of the 'Healthy Dads, Healthy Kids (HDHK)' program when delivered by trained facilitators in community settings. Method: A two-arm randomized controlled trial of 93 overweight/obese fathers (mean [SD] age=40.3 [5.3] years; BMI=32.5 [3.8] kg/m2) and their primary school-aged children (n=132) from the Hunter Region, Australia. In 2010-2011, families were randomized to either: (i) HDHK intervention (n=48 fathers, n=72 children) or (ii) wait-list control group. The 7-week intervention included seven sessions and resources (booklets, pedometers). Assessments were held at baseline and 14-weeks with fathers' weight (kg) as the primary outcome. Secondary outcomes for fathers and children included waist, BMI, blood pressure, resting heart rate, physical activity (pedometry), and self-reported dietary intake and sedentary behaviors. Results: Linear mixed models (intention-to-treat) revealed significant between-group differences for fathers' weight (P < .001, d= 0.24), with HDHK fathers losing more weight (- 3.3. kg; 95%CI, - 4.3, - 2.4) than control fathers (0.1. kg; 95%CI, - 0.9,1.0). Significant treatment effects (P < .05) were also found for fathers' waist (d= 0.41), BMI (d= 0.26), resting heart rate (d= 0.59), energy intake (d= 0.49) and physical activity (d= 0.46) and for children's physical activity (d= 0.50) and adiposity (d= 0.07). Discussion: HDHK significantly improved health outcomes and behaviors in fathers and children, providing evidence for program effectiveness when delivered in a community setting. © 2014 Published by Elsevier Inc.

Birth data from developed countries indicates that the average paternal age is increasing. As the trend to older fatherhood has become established, concerns have been raised that this may be linked to adverse outcomes, such as pregnancy complications, congenital anomalies, and long-term health implications for the child. Since the sperm of older fathers may be impaired due to the general effects of ageing, their offspring may be at risk due to defects in sperm quality at conception. A literature search was performed to identify pregnancy complications, fetal anomalies and health issues for the child when the father is in an older age bracket. Evidence for impairment in the sperm and genetic material of older fathers was reviewed. With an older father, there is evidence of an increase in stillbirths and a slightly increased risk of autism, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia in the offspring later in life. The increased risk of achondroplasia has long been recognised. For the mother, there is an increased rate of Caesarean section. Investigations of other possible adverse outcomes have produced mixed findings. Further robust and longitudinal studies are needed to clarify these issues.

Energetic, competitive, body-contact play (rough and tumble play (RTP)) is commonly observed among young children and is reported as an important feature of father-child relationships. Animal studies have demonstrated positive developmental effects of peer-peer play-wrestling, influencing cognitive and social outcomes. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the nature of RTP between father and child and its relationship to child development and to describe a theoretically informed measure of the quality of father-child RTP. © 2013 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.

A significant proportion of fathers living with their natural, adopted, step or foster children experience mental illness. Psychiatric illness among fathers can have a devastating impact on children's wellbeing, and even milder forms of paternal mental illness can have serious developmental effects on children. While several pathways linking paternal mental illness with poor child outcomes have been identified, fathers' impaired parenting is an important, potentially malleable factor. Clinicians can assist fathers with mental illness and their families by proactively inquiring about children and by exploring fathering-focused psychological support.