This project is led by Casey Hosking.
The project will run from March 2024 until June 2027.
At a glance
This project aims to better understand suicide risk in fathers during the early years of parenthood, and to identify what actually helps.
Insights and findings from this project may strengthen how clinicians recognise and respond to suicidality, and support the design of interventions that are not only tailored for Australian fathers, but are effective in preventing or reducing paternal suicidal experiences and death by suicide.
About
The early parenting period (the first five years after a child is born) can be a rewarding but demanding time for many men. Up to half of new fathers experience mental health difficulties, and recent evidence suggests that many fathers experience suicidal ideation during this period. Alarmingly, men account for three quarters of all deaths by suicide in Australia. Despite this, very little research or tailored support exists for fathers.
This project brings together several studies to answer four key questions:
- How does suicidality develop for fathers, and how do they make sense of these experiences?
- How common is suicidality among fathers of young children, and how does it change over time?
- What social, emotional, and contextual factors contribute to suicide risk in this group?
- Is Working Out Dads, a peer-based facilitated group intervention, effective in reducing suicidality in fathers in the short and long-term?
This project consists of three individual studies:
- The Dads Story Project – Suicidality in Fathers to Young Children: A Grounded Theory Study
- Trajectories of Suicidality in Early Fatherhood – A Longitudinal Study of Psychosocial Predictors in an At-Risk Sample.
- Determining the Effectiveness of a Facilitated Peer Support Intervention to Reduce Suicidality Among Men in Early Fatherhood
Funding
This project is funded by a Suicide Prevention Australia PhD Scholarship.