Deeper understanding of family health and support after childbirth from the perspective of first-time parents and their informal support network is needed. Postpartum experiences and health concerns of first-time mothers and fathers and, discourses on sexuality and informal support after childbirth were explored in low-income, suburban areas in Ilala, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Individual qualitative interviews with first-time mothers (n=10) and fathers (n=10), and 14 focus group discussions with first-time parents (n=40) and informal support persons (n=42) provided the data, which were analyzed through qualitative content and discourse analysis. First-time parents’ areas of concern were newborn care and hygiene, infant feeding, handling crying infant, maternal nutrition and hygiene, uncertain body changes for the mother and, sexuality. The mothers were burdened with caring responsibilities and fathers felt neglected and excluded from the care of the mother and infant after childbirth, both by the families and the health care system. Sexuality after childbirth created tension between new parents due to the understanding that abstinence would protect child health during the breastfeeding period, which could be several years. Women’s adherence to sexual abstinence was more emphasized compared to men’s. Men’s engagement with other sex partners and the risk of contraction HIV was a threat to family health. First-time parents drew on support from both informal and formal sources. Informal support networks played a major role in providing information, materials, guidance and supervision while conveying stereotypic gender norms. Contradictions in the messages to parents within and between the support systems created uncertainties that might have negative implications for family health. Poor parents and those who did not adherence to the social norms were less likely to get informal support than others were. There is a need for information and practical guidance on basic aspects of care for the mother and infant, male involvement, and the importance of social support to first-time parents, as new parents face physical, social and relational challenges after childbirth. The link between the health care system and informal networks need to be strengthened to enable them to complement each other in promoting family health after child health.

This research draws upon the writings of Michel Foucault and a range of governmentality texts to problematise those planning techniques and practices promulgated in an attempt to produce particular ideals of community. To accomplish this I have focused predominantly on the discourses pertaining to the Golden Grove Development. The histories I re-construct from these discourses demonstrate how ideals of community have been constituted and how they act as technologies of government. The goals of these governmental technologies, I argue, were the normalisation of particular suburban subjectivities, with the intent to maximise economic gains and minimise financial, temporal, spatial and social risks. / PhD Doctorate

This research draws upon the writings of Michel Foucault and a range of governmentality texts to problematise those planning techniques and practices promulgated in an attempt to produce particular ideals of community. To accomplish this I have focused predominantly on the discourses pertaining to the Golden Grove Development. The histories I re-construct from these discourses demonstrate how ideals of community have been constituted and how they act as technologies of government. The goals of these governmental technologies, I argue, were the normalisation of particular suburban subjectivities, with the intent to maximise economic gains and minimise financial, temporal, spatial and social risks. / PhD Doctorate

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Iowa, 2007. / Printout. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 305-321).

Lic.-avh. Uppsala : Sveriges lantbruksuniv. / Härtill 2 uppsatser.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Western Australia, 2005.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Delaware, 2008. / Principal faculty advisor: Bernard L. Herman, Dept. of Art History. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.Arch.) - Carleton University, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references p. 44. Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

Thesis (M.A.)--Victoria University of Wellington, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references.

The purpose of this study is to examine the perspective of suburban youths on their residential are. This research is based upon qualitative interviews. In order to analyse the qualitative interviews that will be conducted, two theories will be implemented. To achieve the highest quality results, different theories will be applied to suit the purpose of this study. Our informants are three male and three females aged 18-19, living in a suburban area of south Stockholm. The results in this study have highlighted that young people in suburban areas have both positive and negative image of their residential areas. The youths believe that the society have attributed bad conceptions towards them. Even though they don’t agree with the society, the youths do not seem to see light in the future for the area. / Syftet med denna studie är att utifrån förortsungdomars perspektiv undersöka deras syn på livet i sitt bostadsområde. Detta görs genom kvalitativa intervjuer. Informanter i studien är tre tjejer och tre killar i åldern 18–19 år. Alla är bosatta och uppväxta i ett förortsområde söder om Stockholm. Intervjusvaren i studien har analyserats med hjälp av två teorier samt tidigare forskning. Resultaten har betonat att förortsungdomar har både positiv och negativ bild av sitt bostadsområde, samt att de övriga i samhället har bidragit till att skapa negativa föreställningar om dem. Ungdomarna verkar ha svårt att se en ljus framtid för och i sitt bostadsområde.