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Examining the Relationship between Paternal Mental Health and Informal Support Networks: Reflections on the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic
Paternal mental health remains an under-researched area in the UK. Consequently, father-focused formal and informal support provisions fail to address the complex emotional and psychological wellbeing needs of fathers. Drawing on data from twenty semi-structured interviews with fathers in the York a...
Autores principales: | , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
MDPI
2022
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9566537/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36232050 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191912751 |
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author | Gheyoh Ndzi, Ernestine Holmes, Amy |
author_facet | Gheyoh Ndzi, Ernestine Holmes, Amy |
author_sort | Gheyoh Ndzi, Ernestine |
collection | PubMed |
description | Paternal mental health remains an under-researched area in the UK. Consequently, father-focused formal and informal support provisions fail to address the complex emotional and psychological wellbeing needs of fathers. Drawing on data from twenty semi-structured interviews with fathers in the York area, this study seeks to better understand how access to and participation in informal support networks is influenced by gendered perceptions and the impact hegemonic perceptions of masculinity have on fathers’ access to support prior and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings demonstrate that fathers internalise stereotypical masculine tropes, such as stoicism, which prevent them from actively seeking support. While fathers value informal support network, they generally struggle to engage in mental health talks. The COVID-19 lockdown exacerbated fathers’ struggles to access informal support or prioritise their mental health. Fathers felt the pandemic presented a unique challenge that only people that became parents at the time understood. This meant that fathers could not rely on their parents or other parents who did not have similar experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper aims at challenging structural and cultural barriers that inhibit fathers’ participation in informal support networks, and to promote more meaningful, supportive engagement with peer groups. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-9566537 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2022 |
publisher | MDPI |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-95665372022-10-15 Examining the Relationship between Paternal Mental Health and Informal Support Networks: Reflections on the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic Gheyoh Ndzi, Ernestine Holmes, Amy Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Paternal mental health remains an under-researched area in the UK. Consequently, father-focused formal and informal support provisions fail to address the complex emotional and psychological wellbeing needs of fathers. Drawing on data from twenty semi-structured interviews with fathers in the York area, this study seeks to better understand how access to and participation in informal support networks is influenced by gendered perceptions and the impact hegemonic perceptions of masculinity have on fathers’ access to support prior and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings demonstrate that fathers internalise stereotypical masculine tropes, such as stoicism, which prevent them from actively seeking support. While fathers value informal support network, they generally struggle to engage in mental health talks. The COVID-19 lockdown exacerbated fathers’ struggles to access informal support or prioritise their mental health. Fathers felt the pandemic presented a unique challenge that only people that became parents at the time understood. This meant that fathers could not rely on their parents or other parents who did not have similar experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper aims at challenging structural and cultural barriers that inhibit fathers’ participation in informal support networks, and to promote more meaningful, supportive engagement with peer groups. MDPI 2022-10-05 /pmc/articles/PMC9566537/ /pubmed/36232050 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191912751 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
spellingShingle | Article Gheyoh Ndzi, Ernestine Holmes, Amy Examining the Relationship between Paternal Mental Health and Informal Support Networks: Reflections on the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic |
title | Examining the Relationship between Paternal Mental Health and Informal Support Networks: Reflections on the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic |
title_full | Examining the Relationship between Paternal Mental Health and Informal Support Networks: Reflections on the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic |
title_fullStr | Examining the Relationship between Paternal Mental Health and Informal Support Networks: Reflections on the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic |
title_full_unstemmed | Examining the Relationship between Paternal Mental Health and Informal Support Networks: Reflections on the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic |
title_short | Examining the Relationship between Paternal Mental Health and Informal Support Networks: Reflections on the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic |
title_sort | examining the relationship between paternal mental health and informal support networks: reflections on the impact of the covid-19 pandemic |
topic | Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9566537/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36232050 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191912751 |
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