Gender and Responsibility in Australian Neonatal Intensive Care Units

Adrienne Byrt explores the experiences of mothers of premature infants through a feminist lens to bring to light the gendered demands they face within Australian hospitals.

The book provides sociological insights and recommendations for the delivery of trauma-informed care that resists the reproduction of gendered demands on new parents. Exploring the multidimensional aspects of patriarchal motherhood across individual, interactional, and institutional domains, the book shares rich accounts of mothers’ emotional and social challenges during the extended hospitalisation of their infants. This provides readers with an enhanced understanding of the gendered demands placed on these mothers and the gaps in the provision of trauma-informed support during hospitalisation.

A valuable book for scholars and academics in the sociology of families, motherhood studies and feminist theory, the book will also be of interest to health professionals working in neonatal intensive care units and special care nurseries.