Abstract:
The study explored first time parents’ experiences during transition to parenthood, focussing on what helped or hindered them in coping with changes and challenges entailed and, concomitantly, types and aspects of support found helpful or unhelpful in developing competence across a range of family functions. Data thus produced underpins discussion of implications for policy and service provision with a view to more closely matching policy and service provision to actual needs. Recognising that children have a basic right to the best start possible while acknowledging that New Zealand has a high rate of child maltreatment, the study is aligned with a human rights approach to social work research. Twenty five women in diverse circumstances were interviewed before and after the birth of a first baby. Twelve ‘significant others’ (11 partners of women interviewed and one mother of one of these men) were also interviewed, each once, after the baby’s birth. With a view to building enough knowledge of participants’ experience to make pertinent recommendations for beneficial change in the system of support for families in transition to parenthood in New Zealand, attention was paid to gathering detail about practical realities of participants’ everyday experience. A narrative approach and a resilience perspective were used in the analysis of results. It was found that participants were not well prepared for the realities of life with a baby. Issues they had not expected included uncertainty associated with learning to parent; isolation; financial strain; problems linked to returning to paid employment; role and relationship change; and concern about being a ‘good’ parent. An overarching theme was ‘the constantness of it’, a phrase denoting participants’ absorption in an unremitting new routine marked by chronic tiredness and ‘24/7’ responsibility. Participants provided many ideas about how the system of support for transition to parenthood might be enhanced. The thesis concludes with a discussion of implications for policy and service provision, noting particularly that the data indicate that a more flexible, responsive set of services might be created by customising standard services to more closely match needs and preferences of specific groups of new parents.