Impact of paternal psychiatric disorders on parents-baby separation after mother-baby unit care.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Paternal mental health may have an impact on parenthood especially in case of maternal postpartum severe psychiatric illness. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to search for an association between paternal psychiatric disorder and parents-baby separation after a maternal joint hospitalization for a severe postpartum psychiatric episode. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTINGS In an observational, naturalist and multicentric study, 787 fathers whose partner was hospitalized in a mother-baby unit were included. METHODS: Fathers were assessed for psychiatric diagnoses associated with parents-baby separation. RESULTS: 25 % of the fathers had a psychiatric disorder. 69 babies (8.77 %) were separated from their parents at the end of the joint hospitalization. In multivariate analysis, parents-baby separation was associated with a paternal diagnosis of addictive disorder (OR = 8.35, 95 % CI [3.45-30.30]) and psychotic disorder (OR = 5.76, 95 % CI [1.97-16.78]), independently from potential confounding variables including maternal psychiatric diagnosis. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows the major impact of a paternal psychiatric disorder in the outcome of a joint hospitalization. A paternal mental illness should be systematically looked for in case of a severe maternal postpartum psychiatric episode, considering it is predictive of parenthood difficulties.