A brief practical guide to making digital resources father-inclusive
AUTHOR | Richard Fletcher
Research evidence and community values align in wanting fathers to be engaged in the care and nurturing of children from birth. They also wish fathers to be supportive of mothers and to see their parental role as part of a team.
This practical guide to making digital resources father-inclusive has been developed by the SMS4dads project. Teams of researchers, media professionals and clinicians have collaborated, to assist services and organisations to adapt their digital and print resources in order to:
These suggestions apply to online environments such as web pages, apps and digital resources as well as printed publicity and materials.
We live in a culture where stereotypes of caring roles are still strong. Mothers take the caring role and fathers are protectors and breadwinners. Pregnancy and birth are clearly times when mothers should be the focus and hospitals and health services have a responsibility to the mother as a patient. However, in spite of the evidence that including fathers will improve outcomes for mother and baby, their focus is on the mother. Fathers know that services surrounding the birth will have their attention on the mother and baby, so they are used to resources and information that assume the reader is female. To engage fathers means getting over their first reaction “Me? You are talking to me?” and convincing them that your service values their caring.
1. IMAGERY : Have imagery which includes fathers. Digital communication is heavily dependent on images to deliver the message. If a father opens a web page and sees that all the images are mothers, or staff interacting with mothers, he gets the strong impression that this information is for mothers, not him.
Example : What do you notice about this image?
The designers of this poster probably did not intend to ignore fathers – but the image makes it perfectly clear that it is mothers who are expected to attend. If the aim is to include fathers, then the visual message should include fathers.
2. LANGUAGE : Have the word ‘father’ in the heading and text. While the terms ‘partner’ or ‘parent’ or ‘family’ are appropriate in speaking to a general audience, they do not indicate to fathers that they are being included in the intended audience. Services are accustomed to working with mothers, and without meaning to, may expect that all those reading the provided printed resources, are pregnant or breastfeeding.
3. VOICE : Ensure that fathers articulate their views and don’t simply nod. It is usual for parenting videos to feature couples where the mother talks about the issue and the father sits beside her without speaking.
There are examples where fathers do have a voice. Here is the transcript of a Raising Children Network video on bonding.
Example: Video transcript that includes fathers
Kathy (mother of Ethan and Tomas): When I first looked into Ethan’s eyes, he was screaming at the time and I just couldn’t stop staring at him. I’m looking at this child and I couldn’t take enough of him in.
Russell (father of 2): That sort of depth of connection I felt like it happened the very first time that I held him, the very first time I held him at the hospital.
Rebekka (mother of Samson): There is like this Hollywood moment and you see that it’s going to be an instant thing and I think it probably depends partially on how the birth goes. For us, the birth didn’t go the way we’d hoped so it wasn’t an instant Hollywood moment.
Vivian (mother of Alyssa and Julian): Some mothers do love the baby immediately and you know they have this instant connection, but I guess I didn’t.
James (father of 3): Initially it’s hard because they don’t speak to you, they don’t really do anything much except cry and eat and go to the toilet. And when the child gets older and they have a personality and they grow and you can read them stories and you bond that way. But initially I think you do feel a bit left out. I think most fathers get that sense of where do I fit in, what can I do, I can change a few nappies I can do a few baths, but that real sense of bonding probably takes a little bit of time and takes a bit of adjusting to.
Bill (father of 3): I used to have a little sling I’d put her in and carry her around with. And that was wonderful, to get that physical closeness really helped me feel a part of it, because I think, as a dad, in the first few months, you feel a bit isolated. You feel out of it because it’s all about the mum and the baby, about the feeding and there’s not a lot else. And just holding her physically close was the way I felt connected to her and the whole process.
Katherine (mother of Lakita): It took me several months and it wasn’t until I started getting the communication, you know the responding, the smile, you know, and looking into your eyes.
Florence (mother of Gibrael): He started really looking at me and there was this feeling of recognition and that’s where the spark of love came.
Zoran (father of Ethan and Thomas): It was just the way he started, Ethan started interacting with me, it was, it was a smile of recognition really. Kathy witnessed it as well. She said, ‘Have you noticed anything different?’ and I said, ‘Yeah, I think we’ve just bonded’. It was just this little smile from this little baby and it just shattered all other preconceived ideas I had about being a father.
4. Perspective
Take the view of the father. Throughout the transition to becoming a parent, men and women have different pathways. He is not the person carrying the foetus or giving birth or breastfeeding and caring for the newborn through most of the day. If you want your pages to reach him adopt the perspective of the male parent, someone who has been informed that he is ‘going to be a father’, who is in the role of supporter (or bystander) during the pregnancy and birth and who, after the usual two weeks leave, will return to work.
ASSUME
Don’t assume that all fathers are violent or perpetrators of abuse.
Addressing family violence and abuse is not helped by assuming that all fathers are abusers and keeping them isolated. There are examples of training for health staff to ensure that both father involvement and protection from violence are achieved (e.g. Zambri, F., Santoro, A., Lubbock, A., Volta, A., Bestetti, G., Marchetti, F., … & Giusti, A. (2022). Training of health professionals to promote active fatherhood during the pre and post-natal care to prevent violence against women. Sustainability, 14(15), 9341.)
A SIMPLE CHECKLIST FOR YOUR DIGITAL INFORMATION OR RESOURCES
1. Is the word ‘father’ or ‘dad’ in the heading?
If you only have ‘parent’ or ‘partner’ or ‘family’, the chances are he will think that this information is not for him.
2. Do fathers appear in the images that are included?
You don’t need exactly 50% father pictures, but it should give the idea that fathers will be involved.
3. If there are quotes from parents, are there quotes from dads?
Services often find it easier to arrange a mother to comment, but it will be more effective in reaching fathers, if fathers can see words from other men who are in their position.
4. If you have footage of parents, are dads visible?
Ideally, the images of dads would be in a caring role or actively participating in the service.
5. If there are parents in the video, do the dads speak?
Often dads are included sitting beside their partner, the mother, who is the one talking. It may take some effort to get him to give his view, but this will be important if you wish dads to pay attention to the video.
6. If you are aiming to include special groups of parents such as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander or same sex parents, then adjust your wording and visuals to suit. However, keep the points above in mind.
To see how these ideas play out here is an example where, despite the intention to include fathers, the message was really directed at only mothers.
EXAMPLE VIDEO, fathers included but the message is mothers do caring
Raising Children Network, Australia’s largest parenting website, released a new video on baby development for ages 0-6 months in 2024. The video has lots of footage of mums and dads interacting with young babies. The parents do not speak. The narrator, in a friendly female voice, points out the benefits of activities that are done with babies every day – comforting, feeding, changing nappies, playing and talking. These interactions, it is explained, can help parents to get to know their baby and pass on the skills they will need for life.
Watching the images while the narrator explains the significance of these everyday interactions, it is clear that fathers are represented as well as mothers. But fathers don’t appear as often, so the feel of the video is not exactly gender neutral. When the amount of film showing mothers with their babies and fathers with their babies are tallied, the allocation of visual video time, showing parents how to interact, is revealing.
The entire video contains 181 seconds of parent visuals. For 18 seconds fathers are shown alone with a baby. For 148 seconds mothers are shown alone with a baby. There are 15 seconds where fathers play with the baby with mothers close by. So, the picture presented in the video is far from gender neutral; for 82% of the time, it is mothers who are doing the interacting and caring. Is this a problem?
If the purpose of the video is to explain to parents the benefits of interacting with your baby during routine tasks, then clearly the fathers are missing out. It could be argued that, since it will be mothers who are most likely to be undertaking the day-to-day care, this allocation of visual material simply reflects reality. However, it is doubtful that the producers intended to reinforce the idea that caring for babies is mothers’ work.
Furthermore, there may be practical reasons to reinforce fathers’ interaction skills. The latest parental leave policy, for example, provides 20 weeks of paid leave but only two weeks is reserved for each parent, so the remaining 16 weeks are up for grabs. If fathers are not confident with the new baby and expect their partner to do 80% of the caring, then couples are unlikely to take advantage of this flexibility, and gendered stereotypes of caring are unlikely to change.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
We acknowledge that you may have already been advocating for including fathers and hope that these guidelines will assist you in reaching more fathers for the benefit of everyone in the family. We welcome your comments or stories of success to info@SMS4dads.com.au
If you wish to arrange a consultation on making your service more father-inclusive, please email Richard.Fletcher@ (fees may apply)
Richard’s research revealed possible long-term negative impacts on the children of dads with mental health issues. Fathers’ depressive symptoms in the first year after the birth predicted behaviour problems in their children years later.
“If dads’ mental health has such a dramatic impact then we need to be screening dads for depression, not just mums,” Richard explains.
In response to these limitations, Richard and his team have designed a smart-phone based program that allows mobile connection for new and expectant dads.
Participants receive texts containing information and links, and self-report their mood. If the mood tracker identifies dads as needing extra support, they will be offered a phone call from a counsellor trained in this area.
Following the success of the pilot of the SMS4dads program, Funding was received to enable a National roll-out.
“When dad’s miss antenatal classes or activities, they also miss out on contact and links to other people. They may never get the chance to say to anyone, look I’m really stressed,” he points out.
“SMS4dads is a way of bringing dads into the health system and keeping them linked in with services and support,” explains Richard.
Richard credits a varied career, a talented and innovative team, and much life experience for affording him the insight needed to address the challenges related to actively engaging dads.
After completing his masters in Medical Science, studying epidemiology, Richard earned his PhD focusing on fathers and attachment.
“Fathers are invisible in many places, and that is endemic. Not because people dislike fathers, but because the system is set up to be focused on mothers.”
Some services and organisations are aware of the need to engage dads, but have been unsuccessful in their attempts.
“When people are challenged about this, they generally want dads involved,” Richard affirms.
“Often, however, they just don’t know how to do it.”
Richard works with health professionals on issues related to fathers, and has delivered many antenatal programs for expectant dads.
He credits his own family with giving him an understanding of the role of fathers needed to make his work relevant.
“I have three daughters and two stepdaughters,”
“My kids would say they taught me just about everything I know and they’d be right. They’ve taught me a lot, and still do.”
Richard’s research revealed possible long-term negative impacts on the children of dads with mental health issues. Fathers’ depressive symptoms in the first year after the birth predicted behaviour problems in their children years later.
“If dads’ mental health has such a dramatic impact then we need to be screening dads for depression, not just mums,” Richard explains.
In response to these limitations, Richard and his team have designed a smart-phone based program that allows mobile connection for new and expectant dads.
Participants receive texts containing information and links, and self-report their mood. If the mood tracker identifies dads as needing extra support, they will be offered a phone call from a counsellor trained in this area.
Following the success of the pilot of the SMS4dads program, Funding was received to enable a National roll-out.
“When dad’s miss antenatal classes or activities, they also miss out on contact and links to other people. They may never get the chance to say to anyone, look I’m really stressed,” he points out.
“SMS4dads is a way of bringing dads into the health system and keeping them linked in with services and support,” explains Richard.