The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Paternal Parenting Experience: A Scoping Review.

Only English-language studies were included, so experiences from many countries may be missing. Preprint databases were not searched, so some newer studies may not have been captured. The review did not appraise study quality, so weak studies could influence the mapped findings. Most included studies were cross-sectional, so they describe what was happening at one time rather than proving what caused the changes. Many studies included both mothers and fathers, and some did not report how many fathers were included. This makes it hard to know how much paternal data drove results. Only three studies reported on same-sex partners, so evidence for gay fathers or non-traditional families is limited.

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest and received no financial support; the named funder was IWK Health, Dalhousie University.

Do not read this as proof that fathers were more or less mentally affected than mothers during the pandemic. The review mapped mixed findings and did not combine the studies into one result.