Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1982. / Typescript. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 127-138).

Thesis--Wisconsin. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 26).

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1984. / Typescript. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 51-55).

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 29-31).

Thesis (M.A.)--University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2007. / Title from PDF title page screen. Advisor: Susan P. Keane; submitted to the Dept. of Psychology. Includes bibliographical references (p. 35-42).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 1999. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 275-283). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

M.A. (Psychology) / Parenting plays a fundamental role in shaping a child's future. As such, understanding parenting processes is essential for the prevention of adverse outcomes for children and the promotion of competent child and adult functioning. The motivational processes that mothers employ within the context of parenting are not well understood. This study attempted to gain insight into parenting by exploring how a mother's psychological needs may be dramatized within the mother-child relationship. The research explores motivational forces relating to parenting by describing mothers' experiences ofbeing a parent and interpreting the descriptions within the Needs Theory Framework of Murray (1938). Three selected mothers took part in a qualitative enquiry. A semi-structured, three-phase interview process was used, which combined life-history interviewing and focussed in-depth interviewing. Results ofthe thematic analysis indicated that the mother-child relationship is experienced as a highly valued means of fulfilling the mother's need for relatedness, and that mothers experience a strong need to nurture and protect their offspring. A variety of conflicting needs may be experienced by mothers within their relationships with their children. The degree of difficulty experienced by a mother in a specific aspect ofparenting may relate to the complexity of interacting and conflicting needs. Mothers experience a strong desire to prevent replication ofnegative past experiences with their children, with the underlying need being to nurture the child and protect the child from distress. A particular unrnet need in the mother's past may shape the development ofa consistent pattem ofinteraction dramatized within the mother-child relationship. Subconscious emotional needs may unconsciously shape a mother's spiritual convictions, which in tum shape parent-child interaction. Finally, a mother may vicariously fulfil her need for recognition, affirmation and achievement through her children. Further research is needed to explore the various complex expressions of the mother's needs within the mother-child relationship as well as related subconscious processes, in order to gain greater insight into underlying motivation within the context of parenting.

Breastfeeding has health benefits for mothers and babies. An action research project was undertaken to improve knowledge of breastfeeding and implement evidence based practice, that of uninterrupted skin-to-skin contact between mother and baby at birth. The beliefs underpinning the project were informed by critical inquiry, dialectics and feminist theory. Data was collected by means of field notes, participant observation, focus groups and semi- structured interviews. Analysis during the project using critical reflection was ongoing and collaborative, feeding back into the action research cycles, so guiding the changes. Before successful change in practice can occur, practitioners need to be convinced of its value, involved in the change process and facilitated to incorporate it into practice. Hospitals tend to reinforce the power of professionals by their adherence to historical routines and institutionalised practices which lead to compliance thus hindering change. The strategic use of power by midwives was apparent, constructing people's world view, thus reinforcing the power structure. Empowerment of women and midwives was necessary to the success of the project by education, support, role modelling, strategies for remembering and the active participation of midwives. Theories of change were used to illuminate challenging issues from the project. Early contact between mother and baby at birth is an area generating a large volume of literature. Skin-to-skin contact was disrupted by technology, time limits and the social norm of separation. Interviews with women and midwives allowed a deeper insight into the experience of skin-to-skin contact, giving more value to the change. Further issues to emerge were the implications of separation, the social construction of time, embodied praxis and love. Recommendations are made for the more effective action research approach to implementing change, and personal empowerment as the basis for improving the experience of birth.

Investigations of caregiver-infant interaction have increasingly suggested a three pronged thesis about its structure, development and function: a) that such interactions conform to a hierarchically organized, rule governed exchange of message carrying displays (e.g., Stern et al., 1977; Tronick et al., 1979); b) that such exchanges evolve over time "shifting from a prominently biosocial to a more clearly psychosocial level" (Sander, 1977); and c) that it is within the ontogeny of this exchange that the precursors of adult communication are found (Kaye, 1977, 1979; Sander, 1977; Tronick et al., 1979). A central hypothesis of the first prong of this thesis is that caregiver displays which convey contradictory messages violate the rules governing the exchange and that such violations produce negative affect and disturbance in the infant. The goal of this project is to test this hypothesis and alternative hypotheses by evaluating the infants 1 response to simulated maternal depression using appropriate sequential analyses- This display presents the infant with powerful contradictory messages, and sequential analyses produce powerful descriptions of the quality of the infant's response to it

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