A high proportion of women in sub-Saharan Africa survive severe negative childbirth experiences each year, yet little is known about the psychological impact of maternal experiences on the mother and her baby in those countries. There is evidence from high income countries that the effects of posttraumatic stress symptoms following childbirth on mothers and their families can be long lasting. The aim of this exploratory mixed methods study was to examine the possible association between childbirth experiences and mother-infant interactions in a purposive sample of high risk mothers who delivered at an urban tertiary hospital in Uganda. The sample comprised of 49 mothers aged between 18-38 years and their 4-5-monthold babies. Each mother-infant dyad was observed in a 10-minute video recorded social interaction at home. All mothers completed self-report questionnaires assessing demographic factors, childbirth experiences, posttraumatic stress symptoms arising from labour and delivery, postpartum depression and maternal attachment style. Individual narrative interviews with 41 mothers were conducted exploring their experiences of pregnancy, labour, delivery and time spent at the hospital post-delivery. Quantitative data was analysed using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlations, ANOVA, and hierarchical multiple regressions and the narratives using structural narrative analysis. The findings were integrated using the weave strategy. Quantitative findings showed that fear of death, emergency caesarean section and prolonged labour were the most common problems during labour and delivery. Childbirth experiences were negatively associated with mother-infant interactions. Posttraumatic stress symptoms and postnatal depression were not associated with mother-infant interactions. The women’s experiences at the hospital partially predicted mother-infant interactions. Women’s narratives showed that experiences of childbirth were influenced by the mothers’ level of planning for pregnancy, personal circumstances, and cultural and religious beliefs about childbirth. The mothers’ experiences of childbirth demonstrated elements of restitution, chaos and quest narratives, mirroring aspects of illness narratives seen in populations living with chronic health conditions. These findings show that negative childbirth experiences present risks to both women’s postnatal mental health and their interactions with their infants. Two urgently required interventions for this population of women and their babies should involve 1) hospital organisational changes and staff training on quality intrapartum care. 2) Development and provision of trauma and attachment-based interventions for mothers and their infants.

The thesis is based on research that uses a post-structural narrative or storied approach to examine the experiences of parents who have or continue to rock climb. It focuses on the family, leisure and working lives of seven heterosexual couples with children in the UK. The work of Michel Foucault provides the theoretical framework. In Part One of the thesis his earlier work on discourses, knowledge and discipline are used to analyse the subjects that are formed by discourses on parenting and climbing. This part of the thesis is concluded by bringing these two fields together through examining the notions of individual parental and family leisure and the notions of risk and responsibility. Foucault’s later work on experiences and the technologies of self is used in the analysis and discussion of the data in the third part of the thesis. Data for this thesis were collected through in-depth narrative interviews with both partners in the seven couples, six of these couples were interviewed twice, and the interviews were supported by participant observation. Influenced by post-structuralism and the ethical dilemma of maintaining the anonymity of both partners in a couple, fictional writing strategies were used to represent the data in the form of five short stories. These stories and the resulting discussion highlight the complexity of parents’ everyday lives as they negotiate time and different life-worlds in the early years of parenthood. Couples’ experiences were often quite different and any one individual’s experience could be contradictory. Whilst parenting did constrain climbing commitment, many of the mothers and fathers used creative practices to maintain their commitment, with some actively critiquing some of the discourses of intensive and gendered parenting, which disciplines parents (and especially mothers) to sacrifice their own time for their children. Findings from this thesis suggest that parenting remains gendered, mothers were more likely to perceive themselves as having more responsibility (and thus less likely to take risks) and feel guilty about sacrificing time with children for themselves. However, many of the parents did actively negotiate to share parenting, and many of the fathers also were less willing to take risks with the increased responsibility that came with fatherhood. Parenting was shown to be relational, in that fathers and mothers supported each other’s maintenance of leisure, working and family spaces. Although the parents’ educational, working and age identities cannot be ignored, it is possible that when both parents are committed to the same activity such as climbing that they are more likely to maintain equitable gendered relations. Finally, in terms of family leisure, this research showed that some parents did adopt a child-centred approach to their ‘free-time’ and were more likely to perceive their children as ‘at risk.’ However, many of the regular climbers were impacted by their identities as climbers, and saw taking children into ‘risk spaces’ as potentially beneficial, and climbing as a family activity that was used to pass down their own family values (not necessarily ‘expert derived’ ones). In this way, parents construct themselves as ethical beings and individualise ‘universal’ moral codes.

Parenthood presents many challenges. For parents of children with disabilities and complex health needs those challenges are often very considerable indeed. This study is concerned with the experiences of the parents of 34 such children. NHS Clinical staff working within one English county nominated parents to this study based upon their professional judgment that the child matched with one of three ‘diagnostic’ sub-groups: disability, life-threatening/life-limiting illness or technology dependence. Parents participated in 33 semi-structured interviews which sought to explore their experiences in relation to three pre-declared study themes – ‘impact’, ‘need for help and support’ and ‘sense-making’. A qualitative research approach which incorporated elements of grounded theoretical method was applied throughout the processes of data collection and analysis. This revealed a series of categories and subcategories related to the original study themes as well as a fourth theme ‘battle-ground’ which emerged entirely from within the parental accounts of their experiences. Initial analysis was carried out on three separate data-sets based upon the sub-groups into which parents were nominated to the study. This study introduced ‘mind-maps’ as a novel mechanism for affirming and verifying qualitative research data. Three discrete sets of illustrative ‘mind-maps’ (based on the study sub-groups) were constructed, within each of which were delineated an array of categories, subcategories and individual data elements clustered around each of the central study themes. In order to seek affirmation of the categories and subcategories within the emerging framework, a random sample of parents from each sub-group were invited to participate in a follow-up interview within which they were required to examine and comment upon their own sub-group mind-maps. Parental comments allowed for further refinement of the mind-maps and the resultant data was examined in order to identify areas of consistency and difference in parental experience across the three sub-groups. As its contribution to new knowledge, the study revealed major areas of consistency of parental experience across the three study sub-groups. In relation to the themes upon which this study focused, and the categories which emerged from the data, there were no major areas of difference amongst the sub-groups. The study identified the pivotal role of ‘sensemaking’ in informing parental perceptions of ‘impact’ and ‘need for help and support’. Through a process of constant comparative analysis, parental sense-making was linked to a range of personal, cultural and experiential factors including the contribution of professional staff as sources of help and support. In large part, the role of health, education and social care staff was regarded very positively by parents who identified a number of key personal attributes amongst professionals upon which they placed high value. A fourth study theme, ‘battleground’, emerged from within the study data-set – this theme was related in large part by parents in the context of negative aspects of their relationships with professional staff. Several of areas of unmet need were identified by parents in all three study sub-groups, the most consistent of which was the need for respite, a break from caring.

The lived experiences of men who are childless and want to be biological parents are rarely heard. This in-depth narrative study focuses on the stories of five men who want to be biological fathers but who do not have children for reasons other than male infertility. The aim of this research is to explore and understand how each man navigates not being a biological father within the contours of pronatalist constructs which, politically, culturally and socially, support prevailing assumptions regarding men who are not fathers. In recogmtlOn of the differently patterned and multi-layered configurations of the relationships these men have with being childless - and in order to remain close to the detailed stories of each man - this research is carried out within a narrative inquiry, anchored in postmodern/poststructural, feminist, thinking, interwoven with critical reflexive and visual inquiry practices. To acknowledge the liminal spaces between expectations of fatherhood and lived experiences of being childless, and to embrace multiple responses to these narratives, this research is presented in the physical form of a literary triptych. The creation of the three books making up the thesis - 'stories of 'expert' knowledges', 'stories of not being a biological father' and 'stories of multiple meanings' - dissipates possible assumptions that one set of stories has authority over others. The triptych is accompanied by an introductory set of 'gallery notes'. Through our unstructured research conversations, this group of men generate rich stories of pronatalist pressures, opportunities to parent, making choices, looking for the 'right' woman, outsiderness, the impact of a 'moral panic' around men and children, fantasies of fatherhood and fathering, as well as revising individual assumptions that becoming a father was inevitable. These stories are told within the context of relationships, race, history, shifting identities and engagements with heteronormative expectations. This research has implications for individuals in relationships with men who are not fathers and those in professional roles within, for example, healthcare, counselling, education, social policy making and reproductive sociology. The narratives arising out of this research encourage a (re)view of personal/institutional/professional assumptions about childless men who want to become fathers.

This thesis focuses on the notion of "parental responsibility" which characterises contemporary concerns over the regulation of children's video viewing in the UK. Previous studies of horne-based regulation have tended to concentrate on television at the expense of video viewing, and most studies employ quantitative methods. This thesis expands the research agenda, challenging the findings of previous research, through the employment of qualitative methods to examine family relationships at the heart of the horne-based regulation of video viewing. The work is based upon interviews with ten families from North London. This analysis is accompanied by an examination of the demands made of parents by agencies outside of the family home who are concerned with video regulation (Parliament, the print news media, the British Board of Film Classification and the video software industry). These expectations have remained unexplored by previous authors. This inquiry is located within an account of teenagers' video viewing habits, derived from a questionnaire survey of approximately five hundred year nine pupils. Central to the theoretical project of the thesis is a distinction between the concept and conceptions of "parental responsibility". It is argued that there is a broad consensus around the concept of "parental responsibility" (the notion that parents ought to have ultimate authority over their children's video viewing habits in the home). However, there is much less agreement about what constitutes responsible action in this regard. There are a variety of conceptions of parental responsibility across the accounts examined. Thus, it is impossible to draw clear distinctions between "responsible" and "irresponsible" parents, although participants in public debates frequently make such judgements. In an attempt to move beyond this impasse, the thesis provides a reconceptualisation of the "problem" of "under-age" video viewing, one which takes into account the ways in which parents currently approach the regulation of their children's video viewing habits in the home.

The aim of this study was to explore the processes by which parents' thinking about themselves and their child developed over the course of a three month cognitive behavioural parent training group intervention. The method chosen to explore eight parents' thinking before and after the group, combined both preliminary quantitative analysis with a more detailed qualitative analysis. The quantitative findings were drawn from a repertory grid procedure administered to parents before and after the group. These findings suggested that parents did think about themselves and their child as more in control (of themselves) and calmer after the group. They also indicated that parents were becoming more realistic and understanding about their child's abilities, and that parents who completed the group viewed themselves as more competent. However parents' thinking about themselves and their child appeared to become less cognitively complex after the group, and possible explanations for this were considered. The qualitative findings were drawn from a grounded theory analysis of interviews with parents after the group, in which the results of the pre-group repertory grids were discussed with parents. These findings indicated that the parents who completed the parenting group appeared to have reconstructed an understanding of themselves in relation to others: other parents, their own parents (for four parents), their own child and their child's father. Through realising that other parents were experiencing similar difficulties with parenting, and experiencing the group as a non-judgemental environment, these parents talked about feeling more able to reflect on themselves as parents. Consequently these parents identified a process of learning to put themselves in another's position, especially their child's. Parents who completed the group accentuated their progress in terms of self improvement, gave a very positive account of the group, and down played difficulties, whereas parents who did not complete the group accentuated their lack of progress and emphasised their difficulties with ongoing stressful situations. These findings particularly highlighted the need to reduce the stigma associated with parent training interventions, and the importance of taking a broader approach which views families as the context for development.

The study set out to investigate the similarities and differences between mothers and their adult daughters with regard to depression and anxiety, subjugation schema, attachment style and assertiveness, given the presence or absence of childhood physical abuse. In addition, the research explored whether mother's abuse status would be related to daughter's subjugation schema, attachment style and assertiveness, regardless of daughter's own abuse status. Finally, the study examined whether mother's abuse status was related to their ability to accurately predict daughter'S subjugation schema. Thirty pairs of inner-city mothers and daughters, from a community-based sample were recruited. In Group 1, both mothers and daughters had been abused. In Group 2, mothers had been abused but daughters had not. In Group 3, neither mothers nor daughters had been abused. Questionnaire measures of depression and anxiety, subjugation schema, attachment style and assertiveness were collected. In addition, thirty mothers in the sample were also interviewed in depth for attachment style and their predictions of their daughter's subjugation schema. Abused members of the sample were more likely to be depressed and anxious than not. Moreover, non-abused daughters were significantly far more likely not to subjugate their needs. Mothers were significantly more likely to have a non-standard attachment style if they had been abused in childhood. There were no clear results for assertiveness with abuse status in either mothers or daughters. There was a trend at the 10% level of significance, for abused daughters of abused mothers to be more subjugating than non-abused daughters. Similarly, daughters who had been subject to two generations of abuse, their own and their mother's, were more likely to have non-standard attachment styles than non-abused daughters. Mother's abuse status was not significantly related to assertiveness. In conclusion, there was limited evidence to suggest the intergenerational transmission of subjugation schema and non-standard attachment from abused mothers to their daughters. Lastly, it was found that non-subjugating daughters were likely to be accurately appraised by their mothers, whilst mothers who had been physically abused in childhood were significantly more likely to be inaccurate in their predictions of their daughter's subjugation schema. The study requires replication with a larger sample.

Research on the experience of men during the transition to fatherhood is limited. The transition to parenthood has often been only explored in relation to women and the effects of this time on fathers have been largely neglected. Therefore this study examines the experiences of first-time fathers during the pregnancy of their partner, the birth of their child and the post-natal period, and explores the discourses they draw upon and how these have impacted on their experiences. The study takes the viewpoint that fatherhood is a social construction, and that it is directly influenced by historical and cultural factors and discourses regarding masculinity and, of course, motherhood. Furthermore the concept of postnatal depression is discussed as it acts as a dramatic reflection of how the constructions and discourses surrounding fatherhood, motherhood and gender have led to women being pathologised and oppressed in their role, whilst at the same time marginalising the experiences of men. The cohort consisted of nine first-time fathers all of whom were in heterosexual relationships. They were recruited from a service which ran groups specifically for fathers and their children. The fathers were interviewed individually using a semistructured interview format, and the data were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis and Foucauldian discourse analysis. The analysis indicated that the men were affected both positively and negatively during their transition to fatherhood, often lacked support, felt excluded from the process and did suffer forms of distress at all stages of the transition. Furthermore, discourses regarding fatherhood and masculinity were found to impact on their experiences negatively by limiting their opportunities for action. The effect of gender ideologies on the men's experiences are highlighted, as is the importance of raising awareness of fathers' needs at this time. Finally, an argument is presented which calls for a shift in the focus away from the separate constructs of "motherhood" and "fatherhood" to the joint concept of "parenthood

This thesis presents work I carried out to identify and deliver a parenting programme as part of my work in Lambeth Children and Young People's Service. The research is concerned with eliciting the parents' perceptions of aspects of the parenting programme. I was concerned with what the feedback from a group attending one particular parenting programme, might tell us about parenting programmes in general, and in terms of what the parents themselves feel is helpful about the programme. There were 15 parents involved in the research which was organised in stages. The parents, once recruited to the study, took part in an initial focus group discussion. They then attended the parenting programme in the form of weekly workshops for 13 weeks with each session lasting three hours. A focus group discussion was also held at the end of the programme followed by semi-structured individual interviews. The findings showed that parents benefited greatly from learning from each other in a group situation and pointed to the importance of developing parent support networks. The strategies discussed for managing behaviour were identified as contributing to changing behaviour, particularly where those strategies led to an improvement in communication in the family. Of significant impact was the extent of personal development achieved by the parents and its importance in enabling them to go forward and problem solve independently. This research has implications at a local level for the development of service delivery in the borough in which I work. There is a need to employ resources economically and to utilise user feedback to contribute to ways of evaluating the effectiveness of services. The contribution to psychology lies in the way a range of psychological models are combined and used to beneficial effects. Combinations of psychological models will be shown to impact on programme curriculum, delivery, strategies used and communication. A significantcontribution lies in the importance of the use of a collaborative model for the facilitators if the group training is to be successfully received by the parents

Parenting stress is a common form of psychological distress, which has negative effects on parents and children. Adoptive parents face additional challenges related to the experience of parenting a child with adverse early experiences. The first paper presents a systematic review which found mixed evidence for the effectiveness of psychological interventions for adoptive parents. The evidence reviewed was found to be subject to multiple potential biases. Therefore, more methodologically sound intervention research is indicated before firm recommendations can be made regarding clinical practice with adoptive parents. Implications for future research are discussed, with reference to the unique contextual challenges of conducting intervention research with adoptive families. The second paper presents an empirical study of relations between parenting stress, parental mind-mindedness, the valence of parental representations of children, and child behaviour variables. The online questionnaire study employed a British community sample of adoptive and biological parents. Results drew attention to the importance of parental cognitions and child behaviour difficulties, particularly insecure attachment- related behaviour, in understanding parenting stress. Theoretical implications for parenting stress and mind-mindedness are discussed, alongside implications for clinical practice and directions for future research