Mental health and well-being of fathers of children with intellectual disabilities: systematic review and meta-analysis (original) (raw)

Dunn, Kirsty, Kinnear, Deborah ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2626-1554, Jahoda, Andrew ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3985-6098 and McConnachie, Alex ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7262-7000(2019) Mental health and well-being of fathers of children with intellectual disabilities: systematic review and meta-analysis.BJPsych Open, 5(6), e96. (doi: 10.1192/bjo.2019.75) (PMID:31694727) (PMCID:PMC6854361)

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Caring for a child with intellectual disabilities can be a very rewarding but demanding experience. Research in this area has primarily focused on mothers, with relatively little attention given to the mental health of fathers. AIMS: The purpose of this review was to summarise the evidence related to the mental health of fathers compared with mothers, and with fathers in the general population. METHOD: A meta-analysis was undertaken of all studies published by 1 July 2018 in Medline, PsycINFO, CINAHL and EMBASE, using terms on intellectual disabilities, mental health and father carers. Papers were selected based on pre-defined inclusion and exclusion criteria. RESULTS: Of 5544 results, 20 studies met the inclusion criteria and 12 had appropriate data for meta-analysis. For comparisons of fathers with mothers, mothers were significantly more likely to have poor general mental health and well-being (standardised mean difference (SMD) -0.38, 95% CI -0.56 to -0.20), as well as higher levels of depression (SMD, -0.46; 95% CI -0.68 to -0.24), stress (SMD, -0.32; 95% CI -0.46 to -0.19) and anxiety (SMD, -0.30; 95% CI -0.50 to -0.10). CONCLUSIONS: There is a significant difference between the mental health of father and mother carers, with fathers less likely to exhibit poor mental health. However, this is based on a small number of studies. More data is needed to determine whether the general mental health and anxiety of father carers of a child with intellectual disabilities differs from fathers in the general population.

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