Maintaining Relationship Quality During the Transition to Parenthood: The Need for Next Generation Interventions

The Transition to Parenthood in Obstetrics: Enhancing Prenatal Care for Two Generation Impact

Obstetrics, the specialty overseeing infant and parent health before birth, could be expanded to address the inter-related areas of parents' prenatal impact on children's brain development and their own psychosocial needs during a time of immense change and neuroplasticity. Obstetrics is primed for the shift that is happening in pediatrics, which is moving from its traditional focus on physical health to a coordinated, whole child, two or multi-generation approach. Pediatric care now includes developmental screening, parenting education, parent coaching, access to developmental specialists, brain-building caregiving skills, linkages to community resources, and tiered interventions with psychologists. Drawing on decades of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease research highlighting the prenatal beginnings of future health and new studies on the transition to parenthood describing adult development from pregnancy to early postpartum, we propose that, similar to pediatrics, the integration of education and intervention strategies into the prenatal care ecosystem should be tested for its potential to improve child cognitive and social-emotional development and parental mental health. Pediatric care programs can serve as models of change for the systematic development, testing and, incorporation of new content into prenatal care as universal, first-tier treatment as well as evidenced-based, triaged interventions according to level of need. To promote optimal beginnings for the whole family, we propose an augmented prenatal care ecosystem that aligns with, and could build on, current major efforts to enhance perinatal care individualization through consideration of medical, social, and structural determinants of health.

Mothers' and fathers' parenting attitudes during COVID-19

Attitudes about parenting are derived from early socialization of gender role norms and often include intensive parenting beliefs, which give mothers an outsized role in parenting. This study examined the differences in intensive parenting beliefs among cisgender mothers and fathers during the United States COVID-19 response. Data from a sample of 1048 mothers and fathers were collected during March and April 2020 to understand parenting beliefs. Results indicated that some demographic factors, including gender and ethnicity, impact intensive parenting beliefs. Additionally, the number of COVID-19 cases in a state, along with school closure length, was related to intensive parenting beliefs.

Effects of psychoeducation on the mental health and relationships of pregnant couples: A systemic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

Previous studies suggest that psychoeducational interventions for pregnant and postpartum couples can improve perinatal mental health outcomes and promote couples' relationships. However, most studies conducted to date have focused only on maternal depression, with few studies addressing the needs of fathers, or the effects of paternal participation on the mental health/relationship of both partners.

OBJECTIVES

This study aimed to systematically examine the effects of perinatal couples' psychoeducation on parental mental health and their relationship.

DESIGN

A systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted.

DATA SOURCES

Six electronic databases were searched, including Embase, MEDLINE, Web of Science, the Cochrane Library, CINAHL, and PubMed.

REVIEW METHODS

The authors independently extracted data from journals written in English or Korean, published between January 2000 and August 2017. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that reported psycho-emotional symptoms and couples' relationship outcomes were screened. Of the 11 studies that systematically reviewed couples' mental health and relationship problems, seven RCTs, with data available to pool for quantitative analysis, were reviewed. The total number of participants from all studies was 7119, and the number of participant couples ranged from 15 to 869.

RESULTS

Psychoeducational interventions had a small effect size in promoting maternal mental health (SMD = -0.307; 95% CI: -0.47 to -0.14). However, there was evidence of heterogeneity for the overall outcome, with I² of 16% and p = .27. Paternal mental health also improved, but with a small effect size (SMD = -0.296; 95% CI: -0.53 to -0.05). The pooled results of four studies showed that interventions had very small effect sizes for improving maternal perception of the couple's relationship (SMD = 0.125; 95% CI: -0.05 to 0.30). There was evidence of heterogeneity for the overall outcome, with I² of 7% and p = .36. Psychoeducational interventions with fathers showed a medium effect size for improving paternal perception of the couple's relationship (SMD = 0.348; 95% CI: 0.16 to 0.52); heterogeneity was I² of 0% and p = .68.

CONCLUSION

This study was meaningful as it revealed evidence from published trials regarding the effectiveness of psychoeducational programs that target both pregnant women and their partners. Results indicate that psychoeducational interventions can reduce maternal postpartum depression and ameliorate paternal negative affect, as well as provide overall improvement in the couples' relationship satisfaction. However, further studies on physiological indicators and/or clinical symptoms of postpartum depression are needed to better understand the practical significance of psychoeducational intervention.