Trend Fatherhood is being reclassified as a perinatal health event for men

Summary

GWI's Men's Wellbeing Initiative reports a shift in how fatherhood is understood in health care. The old view treated fathers as an adjunct to maternal care, mainly as partners of mothers. The emerging view treats becoming a father as a perinatal health event for men that needs its own screening, intervention pathways and evidence. The Initiative cites a 2024 BMJ Open review of 37 qualitative studies in 11 countries that described fathers as a forgotten group in perinatal care. It adds that paternal distress is linked to poorer child development and that wellbeing before conception predicts lower depression after birth, suggesting screening should start early. Policy is catching up, with England's strategy naming fatherhood a critical life stage.