In recent years, there has been an increase of women in the workplace which impacted the time they can spend with their infants. As a result, many companies started to offer paternity leave when males also can take time off from work to take care of newborn babies. Various researches have been done to study women’s postpartum depression; however, limited studies were conducted to understand the impact of fatherhood on fathers’ mental health. According to Kumar et al. (2018), there is a higher risk for postpartum depression for first-time fathers. In the modern world, men are more involved in different phases of family life and they are going through the same issues as women. To be a father can bring mental health issues such as anxiety and depression, it also has an impact on all family members (Kumar et al., 2018). During postpartum period, fathers reported experiencing detachment from their partners, having difficulties to allocate time between work and family, not having sufficient knowledge and information for fathers, lack of social support (Kumar et al., 2018). In addition, fathers (parent) exhibits symptoms and signs such as lack of motivation, risk-taking behaviors, anger, escapist behavior and etc. This puts pressure on relationship between partners and also creates the risk of proper infant development. As little attention is paid to these problems, male partners are often misdiagnosed for postpartum depression.(reference Ethiopia). These bring mental instability that increases the risk of having depression. Kumar et al. (2018) suggested introducing postnatal programs, information sessions and online resources that would aim to eliminate the knowledge gap for fathers in taking care and growing up an infant. Also, there should be a mental assessment for both parents; educational programs and materials for both male and female parents about postpartum depression and a postpartum depression training should be provided for health care providers.
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