Total word count including abstract and references -77981 A shortened version of this paper can be found in a collection of conference proceedings in Horrocks et al (2002) 2 Men's passage to fatherhood: an analysis of the contemporary relevance of transition theory AbstractDrawing upon ethnographic interviews with men undergoing the transition to fatherhood, this paper presents a theoretical analysis of men's experiences of pregnancy, birth and early fatherhood. It does so using a framework of ritual transition theory and argues that despite its earlier structural-functionalist roots, transition theory remains a valuable framework illuminating contemporary transitions across the life course. The paper discusses the historical development of transition or ritual theory and, drawing upon data generated during longitudinal ethnographic interviews with men undergoing the transition to fatherhood, analyses its relevance in understanding contemporary experiences of fatherhood.

AimThis paper considers the challenges of delivering effective palliative care to older people with dementia and the possible strategies to overcome barriers to end-of-life care in these patients.

Drawing on an ethnographic study of the transition to contemporary British fatherhood, this paper discusses men's experiences of the ultrasound scan. Seeing the baby on the screen seemed to herald an escalation of their awareness of the baby, reinforcing its reality. Visual knowledge, as opposed to other forms of knowledge, therefore became a primary means of knowing the baby. In this paper I provide a theoretical analysis of men's empirical accounts of seeing the baby during the ultrasound scan. After a description of method, I set the context by presenting data to illustrate the significance of the ultrasound within men's pregnancy experience. The paper then sets up the theoretical foundations for an analysis of these accounts by first, examining the development of the primacy of vision within medicine and secondly, discussing the illumination of the body interior, initially by dissection but now via contemporary technologies of vision including ultrasound. The final section, draws upon further data and discusses how ultrasound can be constructed as simultaneously both a medical and a social event with the potential to generate epistemological conflicts.

2 'It's the first scientific evidence': Men's experience of pregnancy confirmation -some findings from a longitudinal ethnographic study of transition to fatherhood ABSTRACT Background and aims