Australia looks to be one of those lucky countries that adopted an early public health response limiting community transmission of COVID-19 and avoiding the levels of acute hospitalization and fatality seen in other settings. Yet the pandemic came on the back of the largest bushfire season the country had seen which itself followed a sequence of climatic disasters involving drought, cyclones and floods. The social and economic impact of the COVID-19 response has been substantial with widespread loss of employment, social dislocation and health fears sparked across the nation. Findings from risk modeling and population surveillance provide preliminary evidence of increased burden of psychological distress, morbidity and risk of suicide resulting from the current crisis. We also highlight the mental health risk that may arise from increased sedentary behavior with the introduction of lockdown and physical distancing measures. We also outline the potently valuable role of drawing on salutogenic models including resilience and posttraumatic growth research for individual and broader community level need.

Background: Early postnatal psychoeducation intervention programmes can support new parents in the adjustment to parenthood. However, most psychoeducation programmes focus on pregnancy and the birth and fail to deliver relevant and agespecific information to new parents about what to expect in the postpartum period. Learning more about this intense period in a new parents life will facilitate a healthy transition to parenthood. Considering the needs of time-poor but tech-savvy new parents, it is also necessary to rethink the delivery methods of such information to maximize impact. Method: Two panels of experts in perinatal mental health (eight professionals and eight parents with lived experience) participated in a Delphi consensus study to establish what topics of information are most important for parents in the first postnatal year. Results: A total of 89 topics of information were endorsed by at least 80% of both panels as Essential or Good to Know information for new parents. The topics were grouped under the following themes: sleep, attachment, co-parenting, parental mental health, developmental milestones, feeding, social and community support, safety and health. Conclusions: This study established consensus between perinatal experts and parents with lived experience in order to produce relevant m-health psychoeducation for parents in the first postnatal year. The study findings will inform the development of perinatal m-health psychoeducation programmes.