Postnatal depression: Student health visitors' perceptions of their role in supporting fathers

A qualitative, interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) study was undertaken to explore student health visitors' perceptions of their role in supporting fathers when their partner has had postnatal depression (PND). Purposive sampling was used to ensure participants were chosen based on their ability to answer the research question. Data collection included one-to-one, semi-structured interviews with student health visitors/newly qualified health visitors, which were then transcribed and analysed by the researcher. Themes from the data were identified during analysis. The findings demonstrate that student health visitors felt that paternal mental health was not addressed in their training and they did not feel able to adequately support fathers in practice. Participants searched for a solution to how health visitors can be more inclusive of fathers and how to support both parents in the postnatal period when the mother has got PND.