Continuity and change in a qualitative longitudinal study of fatherhood: relevance without responsibility

Abstract

Issues of time and change are foregrounded in qualitative longitudinal research (QLL 1) and are considered here in the context of contemporary fatherhood. From a wider sample of 46 men interviewed as part of the QLL Timescapes network, we draw on two case studies of men who became fathers for the first time in 2000. This article considers the men's relationship to involvement and the linked concepts of exclusion and redundancy, terms which emerged from the data and changed over time in the men's accounts. We seek to emphasise the value of QLL methods for providing a more complex understanding of the lived experience of life transitions and their longer-term implications, contrasting this with existing studies offering a 'snapshot' approach.

The Role of Informal Childcare in Mothers’ Experiences of Care and Employment: A Qualitative Lifecourse Analysis

“…Furthermore, drawing on the lifecourse approach I focused on key transitions and turning points: (1) entering employment; (2) balancing work and care day to day; and (3) changing childcare needs across the lifecourse. Once it was clear that informal carers played a key role in helping single mothers to move into employment and sustain it over time, I then sought to identify individual case studies that illustrated "contrasting dynamics" (Shirani and Henwood 2011). This chapter primarily focuses on specific cases that illustrate how these broader patterns of difference played out.…”

A amamentação e o desmame no processo de tornar-se pai

“…De qualquer modo, o pai ocupa uma posição distinta da materna na gravidez, assim como se relaciona diferentemente com o bebê durante a gestação (Piccinini, Levandowski, Gomes, Lindenmeyer, & Lopes, 2009). Entretanto, com o desenvolvimento da criança e, por consequência, menor dependência em relação à mãe, a maternidade e a paternidade tendem a ser mais igualitárias, aumentando a participação paterna na criação dos filhos (Shirani & Henwood, 2011). Com isso, os aspectos subjetivos associados à paternidade podem variar com o crescimento da criança (Eggebeen & Knoester, 2001), podendo ser influenciados pelo desenvolvimento das capacidades e necessidades dela (Palkovitz & Palm, 2009).…”

Qualitative health psychology research: Diversity, power, and impact.

“…While it is true that qualitative research largely deals with the intensive rather than extensive examination of a phenomenon, recent trends in methods and design (e.g. qualitative longitudinal research, large scale qualitative studies, and qualitative questionnaires) and philosophical perspectives (suggesting new boundaries for methods of knowledge generation), direct us to reconsider simple distinctions between qualitative and quantitative (see Shirani & Henwood, 2011). Not only are such distinctions difficult to sustain, but for a number of years mixed methods have been popular, which present an even wider range of research designs, methodological combinations and epistemological positions (see Todd, McKeown & Nerlich, 2004).…”