Welcome to the Emotional Experiences of Early Parenthood in Australian Families digital resource! If you are expecting a baby or are a new parent, or if you are supporting an expecting or new parent, this resource is for you.
Here, you can read, listen to and watch 45 people from around Victoria and New South Wales share their emotional experiences of becoming a parent. We spoke with 36 mothers and 9 fathers who came from a range of backgrounds and lived in diverse kinds of families.
You can start by watching an introduction from Monica Dux and a preview of some of the clips. After the videos is a guide to navigating around the resource.
An introduction by Monica Dux, author and social commentator
Watch a preview of some of the interviews
Finding your way around the digital resource
To learn about their experiences, you can either navigate by theme (Talking Points) or individual story (People's Profiles) using the menu on the left.
Talking Points
These are summaries of people's experiences and reflections - illustrated by short video, audio and text interview clips - about the following topics:
- Conception and pregnancy (including IVF, surrogacy and adoption)
- Labour and birth
- Early parenthood
- Perinatal depression
- Relationships
- Messages to others
We hope you find the information helpful and reassuring.
People's Profiles
People’s individual stories are grouped according to their age at the time of the interview:
We welcome feedback from visitors to this site and are keen to hear your views. The feedback survey will take five minutes of your time to answer six short questions about your experience with this website.
This website is developed on behalf of Healthdirect Australia, and represents a partnership between Healthdirect Australia, Monash University and Healthtalk Australia.