Abstract
Perinatal mental health difficulties affect both mothers and fathers, and can have a considerable impact on their wellbeing. Literature on help-seeking attitudes and behaviours suggest that mothers are considerably more likely to access services for support compared to fathers. A systematic literature review was conducted to explore the barriers and facilitators to fathers’ help-seeking behaviours for mental health difficulties in the perinatal period. Five electronic databases were searched for qualitative articles and the search was supplemented by handsearching reference lists. Searches returned 7,369 papers of which thirteen papers published between 2008 and 2021 were quality appraised and included in the review. Manual data extraction identified key characteristics of each paper, with initial codes generating themes across the data. Findings were collated and synthesised using thematic synthesis. Barriers to help-seeking for fathers in the perinatal period include stigma and societal male stereotypes of masculinity, workplace inflexibility, lack of father-specific resources, perceived un-entitlement to support, and the impact of interactions with healthcare professionals. Facilitators include positive relationships with professionals, welcoming support spaces and father-focused materials, and hope for gendered expectations of fatherhood to change. Fathers’ attitudes to help-seeking in the perinatal period are considered within the broader context of male help-seeking behaviours and recommendations for healthcare providers for improved service delivery are explored.