Mandy Dixon

Parenting agendas: An empirical study of intensive mothering and infant cognitive development

Intensive parenting debates reflect the critical importance of a child’s early years, and parents’ roles in determining later developmental outcomes. Mothers are usually assigned primary responsibility for facilitating their infants’ cognitive development through adequate and appropriate sensory stimulation. Drawing on Foucault’s technologies of the self, this article explores how new mothers shape their mothering practices in order to provide appropriately stimulating interactions. Using findings from 64 interviews (31 women were interviewed twice, 2 women were interviewed only once) three main positions are identified of how mothers function in relation to their infants’ development: mother as committed facilitator, creative provider and careful/caring monitor. The study considers the perceived normative nature of these positions and the impact they can have on middle-class women’s subjectivities as new mothers. This analysis of parental agendas and infant cognitive development suggests that a continued focus on the mother’s role within early infant development reflects and upholds ideologies of child-centred, intensive mothering, which risks precluding ‘alternative’ maternal subjectivities and promotes conservative feminine identities.

Becoming respectable: low-income young mothers, consumption and the pursuit of value

ABSTRACT Teenage mothers find themselves caught between two discourses: the irresponsibility of youth and the responsibility of motherhood. We unravel some of the complexities surrounding the performance of socially approved ‘good mothering’, from a social position of restricted resources. We demonstrate the relevance of Skeggs’ notion of respectability in order to forge a deeper understanding of how young, low-income new mothers seek to secure social value and legitimacy via the marketplace. We identify a number of consumption strategies centred around identification and dis-identification, yet we recognise that young mothers’ careful marshalling of resources, in relation to consumption, risks being misread and could leave young women open to further scrutiny and negative evaluation, ultimately limiting their opportunity to secure a legitimate maternal identity.

How effective and cost-effective are innovative combinatorial technologies and practices for supporting older people with long-term conditions to remain well in the community? An evaluation protocol for an NHS Test Bed in North West England

Introduction The Lancashire and Cumbria Innovation Alliance (LCIA) Test Bed is a partnership between the National Health Service in England, industry (led by Philips) and Lancaster University. Through the implementation of a combination of innovative health technologies and practices, it aims to determine the most effective and cost-effective ways of supporting frail older people with long-term conditions to remain well in the community. Among the Test Bed’s objectives are to improve patient activation and the ability of older people to self-care at home, reduce healthcare system utilisation, and deliver increased workforce productivity. Methods and analysis Patients aged 55 years and over are recruited to four cohorts defined by their risk of hospital admission, with long-term conditions including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, dementia, diabetes and heart failure. The programme is determined on an individual basis, with a range of technologies available. The evaluation is adopting a two-phase approach: phase 1 includes a bespoke patient survey and a mass matched control analysis; and phase 2 is using observational interviews with patients, and weekly diaries, action learning meetings and focus groups with members of staff and other key stakeholders. Phase 1 data analysis consists of a statistical evaluation of the effectiveness of the programme. A health economic analysis of its costs and associated cost changes will be undertaken. Phase 2 data will be analysed thematically with the aid of Atlas.ti qualitative software. The evaluation is located within a logic model framework, to consider the processes, management and participation that may have implications for the Test Bed’s success. Ethics and dissemination The LCIA Test Bed evaluation has received ethical approval from the Health Research Authority and Lancaster University’s Faculty of Health and Medicine Research Ethics Committee. A range of dissemination methods are adopted, including deliberative panels to validate findings and develop outcomes for policy and practice.