There is increasing recognition of the importance of addressing the mental health of fathers, including during the perinatal period. Fathers exhibiting mental health concerns during the perinatal period are at heightened risk for future negative mental health outcomes and are less likely to engage in nurturing relationships with their children, leading to a sequalae of negative child outcomes during infancy and into adolescence. Although interventions have been developed for perinatal fathers, they typically do not focus directly on addressing paternal mental health. To fill this gap, we developed the Fathers and Babies intervention to be delivered to perinatal fathers whose partners (mothers) were enrolled in home visiting programs. A pre-post longitudinal study was conducted in which 30 father-mother dyads were recruited from home visiting programs. Fathers received the 12-session Fathers and Babies intervention while the mother concurrently received the Mothers and Babies intervention delivered to her by a home visitor. Baseline, 3- and 6-month self-report surveys were conducted with both fathers and mothers. Fathers and mothers had statistically significant decreases in perceived stress between baseline and both follow-up time points, with moderate effect sizes generated for both sexes. No statistically significant differences were found for depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, or perceived partner support, although we found small effects for reductions in depressive symptoms among fathers, as well as increases in the percentage of fathers and mothers who reported high levels of emotional and instrumental support post-intervention. While preliminary, these findings suggest the potential for Fathers and Babies to positively impact the mental health of fathers in the perinatal period, and also signal the viability of home visiting as a setting for delivering this intervention. Future research should employ a comparison group to generate stronger evidence of intervention effectiveness and include measurement of dyadic relationships and paternal parenting practices.

中文翻译：

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检查父亲和婴儿干预的有效性：一项试点研究。

人们越来越认识到解决父亲心理健康问题的重要性，包括在围产期。在围产期表现出心理健康问题的父亲在未来出现负面心理健康结果的风险更高，并且不太可能与孩子建立良好的关系，从而导致在婴儿期和青春期期间对孩子的负面影响产生后遗症。尽管已经为围产期父亲制定了干预措施，但他们通常不直接关注解决父亲的心理健康问题。为了填补这一空白，我们开发了父亲和婴儿干预措施，以提供给其伴侣（母亲）参加家访计划的围产期父亲。进行了一项前后纵向研究，其中从家访计划中招募了 30 名父母对。父亲接受了 12 次父亲和婴儿干预，而母亲同时接受了一位家庭访客提供给她的母亲和婴儿干预。对父亲和母亲进行了基线、3 个月和 6 个月的自我报告调查。在基线和两个随访时间点之间，父亲和母亲的感知压力有统计学意义的显着降低，对两性产生中等影响大小。在抑郁症状、焦虑症状或感知到的伴侣支持方面没有发现统计学上的显着差异，尽管我们发现父亲对减轻抑郁症状的影响很小，以及报告干预后高度情感和工具支持的父亲和母亲的百分比增加。虽然是初步的，但这些发现表明父亲和婴儿有可能在围产期对父亲的心理健康产生积极影响，也表明家访作为提供这种干预的环境的可行性。未来的研究应该使用一个比较组来产生更有力的干预有效性证据，并包括对二元关系和父亲养育实践的衡量。并且还表明家访作为提供这种干预的环境的可行性。未来的研究应该使用一个比较组来产生更有力的干预有效性证据，并包括对二元关系和父亲养育实践的衡量。并且也表明家访作为提供这种干预的环境的可行性。未来的研究应该使用一个比较组来产生更有力的干预有效性证据，并包括对二元关系和父亲养育实践的衡量。