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null Giving rookie dads the online info they really need

MUHC study unveils a website tailored for men transitioning to parenthood

Oct 31, 2017

Montreal – Expectant and new parents often turn to the internet for parenting prep, but it turns out that dads often don’t seem to find the information they say they need about pregnancy, parenthood and routes to their own mental health and well-being. Now, a new study from a Canadian team led by the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC) with funding from global men’s health charity the Movember Foundation highlights just what soon-to-be and new fathers want to see in a dad-focused website and how best to meet those needs.

Researchers found that despite the considerable time the fathers in the study spent on the internet hunting down information on pregnancy and parenting, most said the information was not tailored to them. The study looked at what specific information those men wanted and what they felt was lacking, so they could better provide this in a website designed for dads.

“We have used these findings to guide the development of HealthyDads.ca,” explains the study’s senior author Dr. Deborah Da Costa, scientist in the division of Clinical Epidemiology at the RI-MUHC and associate professor in the department of Medicine at McGill University. “HealthyDads.ca is a prototype website that we have been pilot-testing since 2015 with expectant fathers to promote their mental health and better prepare them for the transition to parenthood.” Learn more