COVID-19 and mental health in Australia - a scoping review.

Background: The COVID-19 outbreak has spread to almost every country around the world and caused more than 3 million deaths. The pandemic has triggered enormous disruption in people's daily lives with profound impacts globally. This has also been the case in Australia, despite the country's comparative low mortality and physical morbidity due to the virus.

Bushfire Smoke in Our Eyes: Community Perceptions and Responses to an Intense Smoke Event in Canberra, Australia.

The 2019-20 bushfires that raged in eastern Australia were an overwhelming natural disaster leading to lives lost or upended, and communities destroyed. For almost a month, Canberra, Australia's capital city in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), was obscured by smoke from fires which threatened the outer suburbs. While smoke itself is experientially different from many natural disasters, it nevertheless poses a significant public health threat.

How does working nonstandard hours impact psychological resources important for parental functioning? Evidence from an Australian longitudinal cohort study.

This study investigates the link between nonstandard schedules and three psychological resources salient to working parents' parental functioning (psychological distress, work-family conflict and relationship quality). Data from fathers and mothers are analysed separately, using a nationally representative sample of dual-earner parents (6190 observations from 1915 couples) drawn from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC). The LSAC data was collected between 2008 and 2018 (with data collected every two years).

Australian parents' work-family conflict: accumulated effects on children's family environment and mental health.

Purpose: Many parents struggle to balance their work and family responsibilities. Yet, little research in the field of social psychiatry has explored the emergence of work-family conflict (WFC) as an important social determinant of mental health, particularly for children. The current study used longitudinal Australian population-based data to investigate the impact of parents' accumulated experiences of work-family conflict on children's mental health.

Recruiting fathers for parenting research using online advertising campaigns: Evidence from an Australian study.

Background: Fathers are underrepresented in parenting and child health research. Given there is a strong link between fathers' parenting behaviour and children's well-being, there is a need to find ways to engage fathers more consistently. The current short report provides information and learnings about recruiting fathers online using social media.

Shift work and mental health: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Shift work is common. However, research findings are mixed regarding the impact of shift work on mental health. This systematic review sought to provide a comprehensive summary of existing research examining the association between different types of shift work and mental health.

Using Paid and Free Facebook Methods to Recruit Australian Parents to an Online Survey: An Evaluation.

Background: The prevalence of social media makes it a potential alternative to traditional offline methods of recruiting and engaging participants in health research. Despite burgeoning use and interest, few studies have rigorously evaluated its effectiveness and feasibility in terms of recruitment rates and costs, sample representativeness, and retention.

Objective: This study aimed to determine the feasibility of using Facebook to recruit employed Australian parents to an online survey about managing work and family demands, specifically to examine (1) recruitment rates and costs; (2) sample representativeness, compared with a population-based cohort of parents; and (3) retention, including demographic and health characteristics of parents who returned to complete a follow-up survey 6 weeks later.

Comorbid anxiety and depression: a community-based study examining symptomology and correlates during the postpartum period.

: Despite indications that anxiety and depression co-occur frequently within the postpartum period, studies identifying the correlates associated with this comorbidity are rare. : This study assessed variation in social and maternal circumstances, based on comorbid anxiety and depression symptomology. : A large community-based sample of 1070 Australian postpartum women completed the Living with a Young Baby online survey.

Early Onset of Distress Disorders and High-School Dropout: Prospective Evidence From a National Cohort of Australian Adolescents.

Prior research examining whether depression and anxiety lead to high-school dropout has been limited by a reliance on retrospective reports, the assessment of mental health at a single point in time (often remote from the time of high-school exit), and the omission of important measures of the social and familial environment. The present study addressed these limitations by analyzing 8 waves of longitudinal data from a cohort of Australian adolescents (n = 1,057) in the Household, Income and Labor Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey (2001-2008). Respondents were followed from the age of 15 years through completion of or exit from high school.

Parents' transitions into and out of work-family conflict and children's mental health: Longitudinal influence via family functioning.

The demands arising from the combination of work and family roles can generate conflicts (work-family conflicts), which have become recognized as major social determinants of mothers' and fathers' mental health. This raises the question of the potential effects on children. The current study of 2496 Australian families (7652 observations from children aged 4-5 up to 12-13 years) asks whether changes in children's mental health corresponds with changes in mothers' and fathers' work-family conflicts.

Online Recruitment: Feasibility, Cost, and Representativeness in a Study of Postpartum Women.

Background: Online recruitment is feasible, low-cost, and can provide high-quality epidemiological data. However, little is known about the feasibility of recruiting postpartum women online, or sample representativeness.

Objective: The current study investigates the feasibility of recruiting a population of postpartum women online for health research and examines sample representativeness.

Why it's important for it to stop: Examining the mental health correlates of bullying and ill-treatment at work in a cohort study.

Objective: There is limited Australian information on the prevalence and mental health consequences of bullying and ill-treatment at work. The aims of this study were to use data from an ongoing Australian longitudinal cohort study to (1) compare different measures of workplace bullying, (2) estimate the prevalence of bullying and ill-treatment at work, (3) evaluate whether workplace bullying is distinct from other adverse work characteristics and (4) examine the unique contribution of workplace bullying to common mental disorders in mid-life.

Method: The sample comprised 1466 participants (52% women) aged 52-58 from wave four of the Personality and Total Health (PATH) through Life study.

Prevalence and course of anxiety disorders (and symptom levels) in men across the perinatal period: A systematic review.

Background: Men's experiences of anxiety within the perinatal period can adversely impact themselves, their partner and infant. However, we know little about the prevalence and course of men's anxiety across the perinatal period. The current review is one of the first to systematically review the published literature.

What matters for working fathers? Job characteristics, work-family conflict and enrichment, and fathers' postpartum mental health in an Australian cohort.

One in ten fathers experience mental health difficulties in the first year postpartum. Unsupportive job conditions that exacerbate work-family conflict are a potential risk to fathers' mental health given that most new fathers (95%) combine parenting with paid work. However, few studies have examined work-family conflict and mental health for postpartum fathers specifically.

Depression and anxiety in expectant and new fathers: longitudinal findings in Australian men.

Background: Despite growing interest in men's perinatal mental health, we still know little about whether becoming a new father is associated with increases in psychological distress.

Aims: To use prospective longitudinal data to investigate whether becoming a first-time expectant (partner pregnant) and/or new father (child <1 year) is associated with increases in depression and anxiety.

Method: Men were aged 20-24 years at baseline (n = 1162).

How financial hardship is associated with the onset of mental health problems over time.

Purpose: Poor mental health has been consistently linked with the experience of financial hardship and poverty. However, the temporal association between these factors must be clarified before hardship alleviation can be considered as an effective mental health promotion and prevention strategy. We examined whether the longitudinal associations between financial hardship and mental health problems are best explained by an individual's current or prior experience of hardship, or their underlying vulnerability.

New fatherhood and psychological distress: a longitudinal study of Australian men.

Despite growing interest and concern about men's mental health during the perinatal period, we still do not know whether men are more vulnerable to mental health problems during this time. The current study is one of the first to use longitudinal, population-based data to investigate whether becoming an expectant and/or new father is associated with increases in psychological distress. We analyzed 10 waves of data collected annually (from 2001 to 2010) from the nationally representative Household, Income, and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey.

Pregnancy and levels of depression and anxiety: a prospective cohort study of Australian women.

Objective: The effects of pregnancy on depression and anxiety remain unclear. Previous research is predominantly cross-sectional, not representative of the general community, and does not include data on mental health prior to pregnancy. This study used longitudinal Australian population-based data to examine whether pregnancy is associated with increases in women's anxiety and depression levels (from pre-pregnancy).

Mental health affects future employment as job loss affects mental health: findings from a longitudinal population study.

Background: Workforce participation is a key feature of public mental health and social inclusion policies across the globe, and often a therapeutic goal in treatment settings. Understanding the reciprocal relationship between participation and mental health has been limited by inadequate research methods. This is the first study to simultaneously examine and contrast the relative effects of unemployment on mental health and mental health on employment status in a single general population sample.

Socioeconomic differences in antidepressant use in the PATH Through Life Study: evidence of health inequalities, prescribing bias, or an effective social safety net?

Background: Depression is more common amongst those who are economically disadvantaged. However there is inconsistent evidence concerning the relationship between socioeconomic position and antidepressant use. Moreover, evidence of greater antidepressant use amongst those of lower socioeconomic position may reflect their greater psychiatric morbidity, a prescribing bias towards pharmacological treatments, or provide evidence of an effective social safety net.