Fathers’ views on coping with the stress of parenting.xls

Mental health literacy (MHL) is related to mental health help-seeking, both of which remain understudied in fathers compared to mothers. The current study examined the relationship between paternal MHL and emotional distress, as well as fathers' views on mental health help-seeking and barriers to accessing care. It was hypothesised that: (1) those who experience higher levels of distress would exhibit lower levels of MHL; and (2) clear symptoms of depression (typical depression) vignettes would be more accurately identified, compared to masked depression. Participants (N = 129) residing in NZ or Australia completed an online survey, the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS-21) and answered two open-ended questions about their perceptions of barriers to help seeking and how they would seek help if experiencing similar situations as described in the vignettes. The first hypothesis was partially supported. Although MHL was not correlated with levels of depression or anxiety, an elevated level of stress was associated with interpreting vignettes as indicating mental health problems, regardless of the accuracy of this interpretation. The second hypothesis was supported: fathers were significantly more likely to correctly identify clear symptoms of depression than masked depression. Fathers described several internal and external barriers to help-seeking and imagined utilising help from a variety of informal and professional sources. Findings suggest that stress is uniquely important to fathers’ MHL; however, further research is needed to understand the impact of other factors on paternal MHL. In addition, current professional support for fathers may be perceived as inadequate. These findings have important implications for health professionals’ screening for paternal mental illness.