Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

African American Mothers’ Experience In The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Lauren Magruder

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Black/African American (B/AA) mothers struggle disproportionately with problems related to childbirth. B/AA mothers have higher rates of premature births, infant death prior to age one, and death during childbirth. The purpose of this research was to add to present knowledge regarding B/AA mothers who have had a baby in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Womanist theory was selected as a framework for the study because it focuses on the intersection of gender and race in relation to B/AA women. The experience of B/AA women in U.S. society is unique, in that it involves several pervasive stereotypes and controlling images. …