Jane Fisher—What were we thinking: a new community-based approach to preventing mental health problems
Jane spoke about the impact that the birth of a child can have on both parents. Women have reduced autonomy and personal liberty, occupational identity and income, social and leisure activities, as well as increased unpaid work and potential damage to body. Men acquire new responsibilities including financial responsibilities, may be protective of infant and partner, and may be uncertain about infant care. Both parents will have to adapt to the demands of the baby and their relationship will not be the same.
As a result of these changes, parents are at risk of mental health problems, such as depression, anxiety and adjustment problems. Around 10% of pregnant women and 13% of mothers of infants experience perinatal depression. Alcohol misuse is more common in men during this period.
Various approaches have been tried to prevent perinatal mental health problems, with limited success. We need to try an approach that changes modifiable risk factors for perinatal mental health problems. These factors are: quality of relationship with intimate partner, intimate partner violence and insufficient social support. Unsettled infant behavior (e.g. excessive, inconsolable infant crying and resistance to comforting) has a major detrimental effect on mental health of parents.
“What Were We Thinking” is a new approach to prevention that works on these modifiable risk factors. It involves learning from a maternal and child health nurse how to settle and regulate infant behavior and how to adapt the intimate partner relationship. Research on this training course showed that it halved the rate of mental health problems in mothers.
To make the skills taught in the course more readily available to time-poor parents, videos have been produced with actors showing what to do in an entertaining way. One of these films was shown. The What Were We Thinking app is available for download at http://jeanhailes.org.au/what-were-we-thinking/.
Jane thanked Australian Rotary Health for the support that it had given to her research.