Fathers & Babies

The Mothers and Babies Research Team at Northwestern University is excited to announce an innovation to Mothers and Babies to better meet the needs of families in home visiting.  Fathers and Babies (FAB) is a brief text based intervention with the dual goals of supporting fathers’ mental health and promoting support of their partner’s mental health, as they become parents. FAB teaches skills to help fathers manage stress and to support their partner during pregnancy, after their baby is born, and throughout life. This cognitive-behavioral therapy based intervention also supports healthy attachment and parenting behaviors. FAB was developed to be delivered in conjunction with the evidence-based postpartum depression intervention, Mothers and Babies (MB). It can also be delivered as a stand alone intervention.

We invite you to collaborate with us as we evaluate and further develop, refine, and test FAB:

Jaime Hamil, MPH, Project Manager
312-503-2645
jaime.hamil@northwestern.edu

Darius Tandon, PhD, Principal Investigator
312-503-3398
dtandon@northwestern.edu

Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
Institute for Public Health & Medicine, Center for Community Health
Chicago, IL

“It helps you think about a young baby’s future, your own future, your partner’s future, the kids’ future. It helps you think – like, it’s not only for babies and fathers or babies and mothers. It’s broad; it’s for everybody.”

– Father from FAB pilot study

“It helped me with stress and helped with mental health.”

– Father from FAB pilot study

“Now, I know how to take a second and breathe and actually like, okay, if I know I’m mad or if I’m frustrated the kids are gonna feel it.”

– Father from FAB pilot study