There remains a need for greater awareness and further research on fathers’ stress in the perinatal period

Parenting is increasingly considered a joint responsibilityto be undertaken equally by both mothers and fathers. As mens involvement and engagement within the antenatal period, birth and postnatal period has grown, so too have concerns about their mental health and well-being during the early parenting years. Several quantitative studies have now been conducted investigating mens stress levels during the perinatal period, as well as a small number of intervention studies aimed at reducing mens stress. This study by Philpott and colleagues1 is one of the first to systematically review the literature regarding paternal stress in the perinatal period.