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Speaker 1: As I mentioned, the research project is currently underway investigating

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Speaker 1: the distress which is experienced by some mothers due to

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Speaker 1: extreme weather events such as floods, cyclones, bushfires and heat waves,

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Speaker 1: and some of those we experience well fairly often here

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Speaker 1: in the Northern Territory. On the line to tell us

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Speaker 1: more about the research is doctor Madeline Pardon, a lecturer

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Speaker 1: in psychology at James Cook University.

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Speaker 2: Good morning to your doctor Pardon.

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Speaker 3: Good morning, Thanks for having me, Yes.

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Speaker 2: Thank you so much for your time.

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Speaker 1: Now, some of these weather events, they are quite common

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Speaker 1: here in the Northern Territory and also North Queensland.

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Speaker 2: Where James Cook UNI is.

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Speaker 1: Tell me what you know, what is the research all

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Speaker 1: about and why did you decide to get this underway.

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Speaker 3: Yes, so we're conducting research on the mental health impacts

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Speaker 3: of climate change or extreme weather events on the perinatal population.

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Speaker 3: So we're really wanting to understand how our weather or

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Speaker 3: our climate might be having a negative effects on mums

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Speaker 3: day to day. So we talk a lot about how

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Speaker 3: our children are impacted by these things, but unfortunately mums

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Speaker 3: silently bear the brunt of these events. So we wanted

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Speaker 3: to give mums a voice in this context.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, right, and so.

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Speaker 1: What kind of ways are they feeling the impacts and

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Speaker 1: is it more on those major weather events when there

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Speaker 1: is a cyclone looming, or is it kind of you know,

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Speaker 1: the prolonged sort of really warm weather and humidity and

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Speaker 1: things like that that we can sometimes experience.

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Speaker 3: We're seeing kind of both sides of the coin here.

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Speaker 3: So certainly mums have shared with us experiences of being

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Speaker 3: faced with extreme weather events, you know, when they've been

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Speaker 3: impacted by a cyclone or perhaps a bush fire. But

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Speaker 3: we're also seeing a lot of concern for our day

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Speaker 3: to day events and one of the biggest concerns mums

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Speaker 3: have raised to us so far is just the heat

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Speaker 3: in Australia and how that might be affecting them in

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Speaker 3: many ways. So whether that's just their children's activity, or

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Speaker 3: their ability or willing to breastfeed, or even the impact

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Speaker 3: that has on you know, their power bills in the home.

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Speaker 3: So yeah, definitely, both the extreme weather events but also

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Speaker 3: kind of the day to day.

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Speaker 1: Think you well, yeah, like I know, even when my

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Speaker 1: children were little babies, and what you've just said, that

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Speaker 1: really warm weather and when you're trying to breastfeed and

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Speaker 1: then they're rashy, and it can be it can be

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Speaker 1: a bit, you know, a bit of an added stress.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely, and they're feeling really quite conflicted. You know,

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Speaker 3: you want your kids to experience the outdoors and nature,

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Speaker 3: but it's too hot, and then you bring them inside

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Speaker 3: to escape that heat. But then you turn to technology

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Speaker 3: and you know, we don't want to give our kids,

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Speaker 3: you know, iPads and whatnot. So yeah, it's really quite

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Speaker 3: conflicting for mums in how to navigate kind of these

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Speaker 3: challenges as well as do the best for their children.

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Speaker 1: So tell me, have you heard from moms sort of

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Speaker 1: right around Australia or is it something that you are

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Speaker 1: focusing a lot on Northern Australia and some of that

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Speaker 1: extreme weather that we experience.

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Speaker 3: We have heard from mums all around Australia, which is

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Speaker 3: really great, but we are hearing from more mums in

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Speaker 3: areas that are most likely impacted by extreme weather. So

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Speaker 3: hearing a lot from Darwin mothers which is great, and

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Speaker 3: a lot from North Queensland mothers as well. But we

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Speaker 3: are trying to capture the whole of Australia, that's for sure.

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Speaker 1: Tell me what some of the preliminary data has shown.

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Speaker 1: I know you've touched on the you know, the impact

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Speaker 1: that it can have even in terms of getting the

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Speaker 1: kids out and active, but even with the cost of

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Speaker 1: living too.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely, Mum's way. But to kind of draw the

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Speaker 3: connection between the cost of living rising Judah environmental challenges.

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Speaker 3: So for example, like I said before, we're having hotter

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Speaker 3: summers in some regions, which means the air cons stays

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Speaker 3: no longer. But another example was also the impact of

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Speaker 3: extreme weather on our agricultural communities, meaning the price of

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Speaker 3: our fruit and vegetables is also increasing in Australia, So

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Speaker 3: that was another kind of additional burden mums experiencing. And

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Speaker 3: again circling back to that conflict. You know, you want

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Speaker 3: to feed your kids good food, but that price increase,

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Speaker 3: some parents just can't afford to do so.

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Speaker 1: Now, yeah, so Madeline, tell us how come you decided

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Speaker 1: how come it was decided that this research was going

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Speaker 1: to take place, because I find it really interesting, you know,

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Speaker 1: for all of those reasons that you've touched on. I

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Speaker 1: reckon that even for parents listening this morning, we get

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Speaker 1: you know, we get to the wet season for example

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Speaker 1: here in the territory and all of a sudden if

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Speaker 1: you have them on soon, you know, you're not able

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Speaker 1: to take the kids outside to play for a number

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Speaker 1: of days.

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Speaker 2: And the impact that that can actually have.

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Speaker 1: You might not realize it, but it can have quite

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Speaker 1: the impact sort of mentally and physically.

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Speaker 3: Yeah. Absolutely, And this population normally is quite vulnerable to

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Speaker 3: mood and anxiety disorders. So in addition to those things,

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Speaker 3: we're often as mums the family health advocates, and we

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Speaker 3: often sacrifice our own mental health and well being so

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Speaker 3: as we experience more weather or as these events become worse.

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Speaker 3: This is just a other additional burdens for moms, burdens

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Speaker 3: for mum brother as they navigate their way through motherhood

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Speaker 3: while trying to you know, get through these extremes as well. So, yeah,

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Speaker 3: we just want to understand those unique challenges experienced by

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Speaker 3: a vulnerable population.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so who can take partner?

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Speaker 1: Are you still like, is there's still time for people

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Speaker 1: to get involved in the research.

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Speaker 3: Yeah. Absolutely, We've got our survey open for probably a

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Speaker 3: few more months, and we're after Australian mothers with babies

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Speaker 3: that are no older than twelve months of age.

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Speaker 1: All right, and where's the best place for them? To

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Speaker 1: head to if they do want to try and take part.

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Speaker 3: We've got a few little flyers floating around, mostly on

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Speaker 3: Facebook pages and the like. But yeah, there's a little link.

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Speaker 3: I'm sure you can pop up somewhere. It's also sitting

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Speaker 3: on Facebook as well.

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Speaker 2: A good stuff on.

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Speaker 3: Twitter on my Twitter page, that's another way.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, good stuff. Now, doctor Madeline, pardon before I let

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Speaker 1: you go. Is there sort of an aim of what

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Speaker 1: you will do with this research once everything is complete?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, we're still very much in the middle of this

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Speaker 3: current study. But I think the next step, after we

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Speaker 3: fully explore and understand these challenges faced by mums in

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Speaker 3: this context, would probably be to best understand the actual

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Speaker 3: support they need to navigate through these challenges. So what

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Speaker 3: would best help mums through these times?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, hey, I really appreciate your time this morning. It's

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Speaker 1: I think it's a really interesting thing to have a

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Speaker 1: closer look at, and certainly I know that there are

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Speaker 1: plenty of mums that listen to the show, so I

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Speaker 1: really appreciate you having a chat to us this morning.

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Speaker 3: Wonderful, Thanks so much for having me.

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Speaker 2: Thank you