Credits

The information contained within this module on Emotional Experiences of Early Parenthood in Australian Families is based on qualitative research data collected in Australia by researchers based at the time at the Social Studies in Health and Medicine (SSHM) Research Program at the School of Social Sciences, Faculty of Arts, Monash University.

Researchers

Kate Johnston-Ataata is a Visiting Research Fellow at RMIT University. At the time of this project, she was a Research Associate in the Social Studies in Health and Medicine (SSHM) Research Program at the School of Social Sciences, Monash University. Kate coordinated the project, conducted interviews and data analysis, and led the writing of the talking points and people’s profiles for this module.

Caroline Hart portrait

At the time of this project, Caroline Hart was a Research Assistant in the SSHM Research Program. Caroline provided significant research assistance and administrative support to the project including writing people’s profiles and selected talking points as well as all auxiliary materials for the module.

Nicholas Hill portrait

Nicholas Hill is a Lecturer at the University of Melbourne. While working on this project, he was a Research Assistant in the SSHM Research Program. Nicholas provided significant research assistance and administrative support to the project including writing people’s profiles and preparing materials for web publication.

Renata Kokanovic portrait

Renata Kokanovic is Professor of Medical Sociology at RMIT University, While working on this project, she was Associate Professor, Monash Fellow, and Director of the Social Studies in Health and Medicine (SSHM) Research Program at the School of Social Sciences, Faculty of Arts, Monash University. Renata has a background in sociology of health and illness and her main research interests are phenomenology of mental illness, health and illness experiences, and culture and health. Renata worked as the project’s ‘research buddy’, oversaw the conduct of the project, and contributed to data analysis and writing of talking points.

Advisory Panel

Mr Andrew BETTS
House Husband and Father
Ms Rita BUTERA
Executive Director (former), Women's Health Victoria
Ms Monica DUX
Social Commentator and Author of Things I Didn't Expect (When I was Expecting) and co-author of The Great Feminist Denial
Mr Sam EVERINGHAM
President, Surrogacy Australia
Ms Belinda HORTON
CEO (former), PANDA (Perinatal Anxiety and Depression Australia)
Professor Kate HUNT
Associate Director, MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow, UK
Professor Lenore MANDERSON
School of Public Health, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa, and Institute for the Study of the Environment and Society, Brown University, USA
Ms Lindy MARLOW
State Wide Facilitator, Refugee Health Nurse Program, Victorian Refugee Health Network and Western Region Health Centre, Victoria, Australia
Associate Professor Ruth McNAIR
Academic General Practitioner (Lesbian and Bisexual Women's Health), University of Melbourne , Victoria, Australia
Ms Suzanne McNAUGHT
Maternal and Child Health Nurse, City of Stonnington, Victoria, Australia
Ms Jennifer PEGGIE
Occupational Therapist and Mother
Dr Leone PIGGFORD
General Practitioner (shared antenatal care, women’s health, paediatrics), University of Melbourne Student Health Service, Victoria, Australia
Ms Clare SHANN
Global Mental Health Lead, The Movember Foundation, Australia
Dr Meredith STONE
Psychiatric Registrar, South Eastern Sydney Local Health District, NSW, Australia
Dr Melanie STRANG
General Practitioner, Counsellor, Author of MotherLove: Embracing the ups and downs of being a new parent and creator of Well Mum Well Baby
Ms Elly TAYLOR
Relationship Counsellor, Parent Educator, Author of Becoming Us: 8 Steps to Grow a Family that Thrives and creator of Parent Support Online
Ms Megan WONG
Health Promotion and Research Project Officer (former), Multicultural Centre for Women’s Health, Victoria, Australia
Ms Dianne ZALITIS
Clinical Governance Analyst, Pregnancy Birth and Baby, Healthdirect Australia

Acknowledgements

Special thanks are extended to all people who generously shared with us their stories of their emotional experiences of pregnancy, surrogacy, adoption, and early parenthood to inform the development of this website.

Thanks to Healthdirect Australia and to the members of the Advisory Panel for their valuable contributions to talking points and general guidance and feedback as the project progressed. Dianne Zalitis reviewed all talking points on behalf of the funding body (Healthdirect Australia) as well as provided valuable advice on recruitment. Her close engagement with and interest in the project was appreciated. Thanks to all Healthdirect Australia staff involved in designing and building the website – particularly Miguel Llano, Sara Renwick and Andrew Bryant.

We would also like to thank Elly Taylor, Ruth McNair, Sam Everingham, Lenore Manderson, Andrew Betts and Belinda Horton from the Advisory Panel for assistance with recruitment of research participants, as well as Andrew Chisolm (Y-Stop, City of Greater Dandenong), Rose Elias (Wellsprings for Women Inc., Victoria), Melinda Soós, Kay Johnston, Ivanhoe Children’s Community Co-operative, Gowrie Victoria, the Rainbow Families Council, Shingai Mareya (Goulburn Valley Medicare Local), Marilyn Greeff (Southern Migrant and Refugee Centre) and the Australian Multiple Births Association.

Thanks to Audrey Statham and Brandy Cochrane, Research Assistants in the SSHM Research Program at the School of Social Sciences, Monash University, for assistance in the final stages of preparing materials for web publication and Katie Vasey who assisted with interviewing. Thanks to Healthtalk Australia colleagues Associate Professor Kath Ryan and Associate Professor Lorraine Smith for their encouragement and support.

Thanks to Richard Taylor and Ilena Gecan for the use of their photographs of Australian wildflowers. (Flickr Creative Commons License Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic). Special thanks to the School of Social Sciences, Faculty of Arts, Monash University for supporting the researchers and this project.

Funded by: Healthdirect Australia