Applying Feminist Poststructuralism as a Framework for Exploring Infant Feeding Interactions in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

Abstract

Childbearing/rearing families in Canada face a variety of conflicting discourses related to infant feeding, entrenched in a complex web of gendered, social, institutional and political discourses. For parents of preterm and/or critically ill infants, this area remains largely under-explored through a feminist lens. We offer a critical examination of the applicability of feminist poststructuralism (FPS) as a theory to explore infant feeding interactions in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Scholarly literature from diverse perspectives, including nursing, healthcare, gender studies, and social sciences is critiqued and the use of FPS as a guiding framework for nursing research and praxis is discussed. We discuss FPS and the relevance of various discourses to explore the phenomenon of infant feeding interactions in the NICU. Ultimately, we propose that FPS does offer a relevant lens through which to critically examine infant feeding interactions and bring voice to the complex processes embedded in the NICU.

Women’s Experiences Regarding Physical Activity during the Postpartum Period: A Feminist Poststructuralist Study

“…It can provide insight into a wide range of health issues by examining how social, institutional, and political constructs shape power relations between people [ 13 ]. Important concepts of feminist poststructuralism are language, meaning, beliefs, values, practices, subjectivity, relations of power, and agency [ 14 , 16 , 17 ]. For example, agency helps to understand how people decide in different situations through challenging or accepting different discourses or meanings associated with their experiences.…”

“…How people position themselves in relation to others is considered subjectivity [ 13 ]. These concepts are used to deconstruct the social and institutional constructions [ 17 ]. Moreover, when certain tenets of feminist poststructuralism are used to deconstruct discourses, constructs, and relations of power, solutions may then be illuminated through a process of reconstruction and examination of the taken for granted [ 17 ].…”

A critical examination of epistemological congruence between intersectionality and feminist poststructuralism: Toward an integrated framework for health research

“…Feminist poststructural approaches have been used to expose discourses that shape the nursing experience, such as discourses around medical superiority, evidence‐based practice, the nursing shortage, professionalism, and cost‐consciousness (Wall, 2007). Feminist poststructuralism offers a lens to explore how social, institutional, and cultural narratives manifest in relationships between care providers and care recipients (van Wijlen & Aston, 2019) and in care providers' clinical decision‐making and quality of care (Arslanian‐Engoren, 2002). This is a critical contribution of feminist poststructuralism to the study of a variety of women's health concerns, as certain authoritative and gendered discourses may be perceived as upholding models of care that infantilize and objectify women and legitimize the close monitoring and control of women's bodies and choices (Davis‐Floyd, 2001; Procenko, 2021).…”

Codevelopment of Implementation Interventions to Support Parent-Led Care for Pain in Infants: Protocol for a Qualitative Descriptive Study

“…We are conscious of perpetuating oppressive and harmful discourses that do not reflect all childbearing families cared for in our health system and communities [ 1 - 3 ]. Therefore, we used inclusive gender-neutral language whenever possible throughout this protocol.…”

“…Therefore, we used inclusive gender-neutral language whenever possible throughout this protocol. This includes the use of terms such as breastfeeding or chestfeeding to better reflect diverse lactation experiences [ 3 ].…”