IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v372y2025ics0277953625002588.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The neonatal intensive care unit as a site of perinatal iatrogenesis: An ethnographic analysis of postpartum health support in a U.S. children's hospital

Author

Listed:
  • Mari, Katey E.

Abstract

Postpartum parents with infants in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) disproportionately lack access to adequate postpartum care, particularly in pediatric hospital settings. Building upon Liese's (2021) framework of obstetric iatrogenesis ‘ranging from unintentional harm (UH) to overt disrespect, violence, and abuse (DVA)’, this paper proposes an extended analytic of perinatal iatrogenesis. It explores how the experiences of postpartum parents in the NICU exemplify perinatal iatrogenesis, highlighting how iatrogenesis manifests beyond birth and in non-obstetric settings, ultimately contributing to worse health outcomes for postpartum persons. Drawing on twelve months of ethnographic observations between 1/31/2023 and 1/31/24 and 30 semi-structured interviews in a large, urban children's hospital Level IV NICU in the Northeastern U.S., this analysis positions the NICU as a site of perinatal iatrogenesis, exposing how neglectful and inaccessible postpartum care for NICU parents is a normalized form of mistreatment of perinatal persons within the U.S. healthcare system. It also argues that the embodiment of societal notions of motherhood reduces maternal motivations for self-care, contributing to postpartum care underutilization among NICU parents. Centering the postpartum period as key for maternal health and dyadic health, this paper demonstrates the utility of the perinatal iatrogenesis framework for understanding maternal experiences in the NICU and advocates for improved postpartum health support for NICU parents in a pediatric hospital setting.

Suggested Citation

  • Mari, Katey E., 2025. "The neonatal intensive care unit as a site of perinatal iatrogenesis: An ethnographic analysis of postpartum health support in a U.S. children's hospital," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 372(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:372:y:2025:i:c:s0277953625002588
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.117929
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953625002588
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.117929?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gill Watson, 2011. "Parental liminality: a way of understanding the early experiences of parents who have a very preterm infant," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 20(9‐10), pages 1462-1471, May.
    2. Palmquist, Aunchalee E.L. & Holdren, Sarah M. & Fair, Cynthia D., 2020. "“It was all taken away”: Lactation, embodiment, and resistance among mothers caring for their very-low-birth-weight infants in the neonatal intensive care unit," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 244(C).
    3. Davis-Floyd, Robbie E., 1994. "The technocratic body: American childbirth as cultural expression," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 38(8), pages 1125-1140, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Quinn, Elizabeth A. & Sobonya, Sarah & Palmquist, Aunchalee E.L., 2023. "Maternal perceptions of human milk expression output: An experimental design using photographs of milk," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 324(C).
    2. Kierans, Ciara, 2011. "Anthropology, organ transplantation and the immune system: Resituating commodity and gift exchange," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 73(10), pages 1469-1476.
    3. Dua'a Fayiz Al Maghaireh & Khatijah Lim Abdullah & Chong Mei Chan & Chua Yan Piaw & Mariam Mofleh Al Kawafha, 2016. "Systematic review of qualitative studies exploring parental experiences in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 25(19-20), pages 2745-2756, October.
    4. Tully, Kristin P. & Ball, Helen L., 2013. "Misrecognition of need: Women's experiences of and explanations for undergoing cesarean delivery," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 103-111.
    5. Shaw, Rebecca & Kitzinger, Celia, 2005. "Calls to a home birth helpline: Empowerment in childbirth," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 61(11), pages 2374-2383, December.
    6. Emily Burns, 2015. "More Than Four Walls: The Meaning of Home in Home Birth Experiences," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 3(2), pages 06-16.
    7. Kroll, Camille & Murphy, Julia & Poston, Lindsay & You, Whitney & Premkumar, Ashish, 2022. "Cultivating the ideal obstetrical patient: How physicians-in-training describe pain associated with childbirth," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 312(C).
    8. Emily Burns, 2015. "More Than Four Walls: The Meaning of Home in Home Birth Experiences," Social Inclusion, Cogitatio Press, vol. 3(2), pages 06-16.
    9. Palmquist, Aunchalee E.L. & Holdren, Sarah M. & Fair, Cynthia D., 2020. "“It was all taken away”: Lactation, embodiment, and resistance among mothers caring for their very-low-birth-weight infants in the neonatal intensive care unit," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 244(C).
    10. Neiterman, Elena & Fox, Bonnie, 2017. "Controlling the unruly maternal body: Losing and gaining control over the body during pregnancy and the postpartum period," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 174(C), pages 142-148.
    11. El-Nemer, Amina & Downe, Soo & Small, Neil, 2006. "'She would help me from the heart': An ethnography of Egyptian women in labour," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 62(1), pages 81-92, January.
    12. Ulla Edéll‐Gustafsson & Charlotte Angelhoff & Ewa Johnsson & Jenny Karlsson & Evalotte Mörelius, 2015. "Hindering and buffering factors for parental sleep in neonatal care. A phenomenographic study," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 24(5-6), pages 717-727, March.
    13. Namey, Emily E. & Lyerly, Anne Drapkin, 2010. "The meaning of "control" for childbearing women in the US," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(4), pages 769-776, August.
    14. Janet Green & Philip Darbyshire & Anne Adams & Debra Jackson, 2015. "Desperately seeking parenthood: neonatal nurses reflect on parental anguish," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 24(13-14), pages 1885-1894, July.
    15. Mansfield, Becky, 2008. "The social nature of natural childbirth," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 66(5), pages 1084-1094, March.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:372:y:2025:i:c:s0277953625002588. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.