Early Parenting and Parenthood – Migrants’ Perceptions and Experiences

The What Were We Thinking (WWWT) is a structured, evidence-based psycho-educational program which was developed to prevent postnatal depression and anxiety by promoting confidence and emotional well-being among new parents. The program is innovative in its inclusion of fathers and infants, focusing on strengthening participants’ knowledge and skills to address two modifiable risk factors for postnatal mental health problems: unsettled infant behaviours and inequitable roles and responsibilities within intimate partner relationships. The program was originally developed in English and has only recently been adapted for the Amharic-speaking community in Melbourne, Australia. Through this project, we learned that there is a significant gap in published evidence about how migrant parents experience and manage changes in roles and responsibilities during the postpartum period, particularly in relation to parenting and caregiving. This project forms part of a broader ongoing study and aims to scope the existing published literature on early parenting and parenthood among migrant populations, with a focus on their perceptions, experiences, and adaptation processes in the early postnatal period. The student will gain research and critical thinking skills that are essential for evidence-based practice. It will teach them how to develop a clear and concise research question, design a rigorous search strategy, and appraise the quality of existing studies. The student will learn how to synthesise information, identify gaps in the available literature, and draw conclusions from this data. This process will strengthen their ability to evaluate evidence objectively and will improve their academic writing including technical reports and manuscript to be published in peer-reviewed journal.