Academic staff

Modules taught

• U26173 'Gendering Intimate Relationships'
• U26125 'Sociology of Health and Illness
• U26199 Undergraduate dissertation supervision
• PhD Supervision

Supervision

Tina is currently supervising PhD students who are working in the following areas:

• Equality duty and lone mother experiences
• Migration experiences with a focus on legal and social statuses and disrupted/continued familial practices

Key Research Projects

• Gender, Caring and Work: Contemporary Family Lives

CoP Show: Expert Women

The BBC Academy’s Expert Women events are part of a campaign to increase the number of expert women presenters and contributors appearing on TV and radio in key under-represented areas including science, history, politics, business, engineering, architecture and technology. The project is a collaboration between the BBC Academy and Broadcast Magazine, with support from BBC Diversity, Creative Skillset, Channel 4, Sky, ITV and the wider broadcast industry.

I didn’t have that much confidence that anybody would want to listen to my ideas about the work I do. But actually they did

• Find out more on the BBC website
• CoP Show: Expert Women (17MB, MP3)

Books

• Miller T, Making Sense of Parenthood: Caring, Gender and Family Lives, Cambridge University press (2017)
  ISBN: 9781107104136 eISBN: 9781316219270
  Abstract Following on from Making Sense of Motherhood (2005) and Making Sense of Fatherhood (2010), Tina Miller's book focuses on transitions to first-time parenthood and the unfolding experiences of managing caring and paid work in modern family lives. Returning to her original participants, it collects later episodes of their experience of 'doing' family life, and meticulously examines mothers' and fathers' accounts of negotiating intensified parenting responsibilities and work-place demands. It explores questions of why gender equality and equity are harder to manage within the home sphere when organising caring and associated responsibilities, re-addressing the concept of 'maternal gatekeeping' and offering insights into a new concept of 'paternal gatekeeping'. The findings presented will inform both scholarly work and policy on family lives, gender equality and work.Website 
• Miller T, Making sense of fatherhood: gender, caring and work, Cambridge University Press (2010)
  ISBN: 9780521743013
  Abstract As family and work demands become more complex, who is left holding the baby? Tina Miller explores men's experiences of fatherhood and provides unique insights into paternal caring, changing masculinities and men's relations to paid work. She focuses on the narratives of a group of men as they first anticipate and then experience fatherhood for the first time. Her original, longitudinal research contributes to contemporary theories of gender against a backdrop of societal and policy change. The men's journeys into fatherhood are both similar and varied, and they illuminate just how deeply gender permeates individual lives, everyday practices and societal assumptions around caring for young children. This book acts as a companion to Making Sense of Motherhood (Cambridge University Press, 2005) and, together, these innovative studies reveal how gendered practices around caring become enacted.
• , Making Sense of Motherhood: A Narrative Approach, Canbridge University Press (2005)
  ISBN: 9780521543644
  

Journal articles

• Miller T, '“We’ve Bought a Tens Machine and We’re Trying Aromatherapy and Hypnobirthing”: Being Prepared for Labour and Birth?'
  Studies in the Maternal 13 (1) (2020)
  ISSN: 1759-0434 eISSN: 1759-0434
  Website 
• Miller T, 'Paternal and Maternal Gatekeeping? Choreographing Care'
  Sociologica 12 (3) (2018) pp.25-35
  ISSN: 1971-8853
  Abstract

  Feminist scholarship has continued to map the multiple ways in which practices of caring and paid work sustain gender inequality. A recurrent focus has examined how caring and paid work “choices”are made and their corresponding gendered effects, particularly for women in the home, work place and beyond. In spite of shifts in education, employment and equality-focused legislation, the sharing of familial caring responsibilities for children has been particularly resistant to significant change.One attempt to explain this obduracy has been through the concept of “maternal gatekeeping” devel-oped in the 1990s. This concept typically describes and measures maternal behaviours that “block”paternal involvement and so apparently “protects” maternal privilege/power. However, as societal ideals — and some practices — of involved fatherhood shift, a more critical engagement with the concept of “gatekeeping” as a singularly maternal practise, is timely. Drawing upon findings from two comparative UK based qualitative longitudinal studies, this paper urges a more critical examination of practices of maternal and paternal gatekeeping as parental choreographing of caring practices and responsibilities unfold.
  

  Website 
• Miller T, Smith H, 'Establishing partnership with traditional birth attendants for improved maternal and newborn health: a review of factors influencing implementation'
  BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth 17 (2017)
  ISSN: 1471-2393
  Abstract Background. Recent World Health Organization recommendations recognize the important role Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs) can play in supporting the health of women and newborns. This paper provides an analysis of key factors that affect the implementation of interventions to develop partnerships with TBAs to promote improved access to skilled care at birth.
  Methods. We conducted a secondary analysis of 20 papers identified through two systematic reviews that examined the effectiveness of interventions to find new roles for TBAs on maternal and newborn health outcomes, as well as papers identified through a systematic mapping of the maternal health literature. The Supporting the Use of Research Evidence framework (SURE) guided the thematic analysis to explore the perceptions of various stakeholders and implementation barriers and facilitators, as well as other contextual issues.
  Results. This analysis identified countries that have implemented interventions to support the transition from birth with a TBA to birth with a skilled birth attendant. Drawing on the experiences of these countries, the analysis highlights factors that are important to consider when designing and implementing such interventions. Barriers to implementation included resistance to change in more traditional communities, negative attitudes between TBAs and skilled attendants and TBAs concerns about the financial implications of assuming new roles. Facilitating factors included stakeholder involvement in devising and implementing interventions, knowledge sharing between TBAs and skilled birth attendants, and formalised roles and responsibilities and remuneration for TBAs.  
  Conclusions. The implementation barriers identified in this analysis could, if not addressed, prevent or discourage TBAs from carrying out newly defined roles supporting women in pregnancy and childbirth and linking them to the formal health system. This paper also identifies the factors that seem critical to success, which new programmes could consider adopting from the outset. In most cases a multi-faceted approach is needed to prepare TBAs and others for new roles, including the training of TBAs to strengthen their knowledge and skills to enable them to be able to assume new roles, alongside the sensitization of healthcare providers, communities, women and their families. Further research is required to map the transition process and stakeholder experiences in more detailed ways and to provide longer-term monitoring of existing interventions.Website 
• Miller TA, 'Telling the difficult things: creating spaces for disclosure, rapport and ‘collusion’ in qualitative interviews'
  Women's Studies International Forum 61 (2016) pp.81-86
  ISSN: 0277-5395
  Abstract Qualitative interviews continue to offer an established way to collect rich data about everyday experiences of the social world. It is also recognised that data collected during face-to-face interviews are the product of a social interaction with co-constructive elements. Reflection on the research process and methodological transparency, have become mainstays of rigorous qualitative research practise, facilitating critical assessment of research findings. But in what ways can and do researchers co-construct interview accounts and what happens once data are collected? This paper focuses on what happens during the interview, for example the creation of spaces and endurance of silences, or supportive comments made in order to invite and allow disclosures, and what happens around the interview encounter. Do ‘permissions’ to voice difficult, challenging experiences amount to collusion or just good, effective interviewing technique? How/do research relationships - including experiences of power – shift within and around the interview and when does ‘rapport’ cease?Website 
• Miller TA, Nash M, '"I just think something like the ‘Bubs and Pubs’ class is what men should be having": Paternal subjectivities and preparing for first-time fatherhood in Australia and the United Kingdom.'
  Journal of Sociology 53 (3) (2016) pp.541-556
  ISSN: 1440-7833
  Abstract Increasingly in international research and popular media a growing interest in men and fatherhood is discernible. These changes occur as other aspects of the socio-economic world shift, necessitating the need to re-address how caring and paid work responsibilities are configured and practised. However, interest in men’s experiences as fathers has emerged in ways which reflect cultural assumptions and practices associated with dominant understandings of masculinities. Consequently, research and evidence of changing behaviours has been culturally and geographically uneven. In this paper, two qualitative studies are drawn upon to examine how men living in Australia and the UK engage in/narrate experiences of preparation for first-time fatherhood. These studies compare men’s in-depth accounts of preparing for first-time fatherhood in cultures where understandings of masculinities overlap, but where differences are also discernible. The findings illuminate the ways in which biology, gender, temporality and histories of masculinities frame men’s preparation activities and service provision.Website 
• Miller TA, 'Going back: "Stalking", talking and researcher responsibilities in qualitative longitudinal research'
  International Journal of Social Research Methodology 18 (3) (2015) pp.293-305
  ISSN: 1364-5579 eISSN: 1464-5300
  Abstract
  This paper explores the process of going back in qualitative longitudinal research (QLR) to gather later accounts of unfolding personal experiences. The design of interview-based QLR is usually premised on collecting data, over-time, around an unfolding experience or event. This design facilitates the establishment of an on-going research relationship and ‘rapport’ and the accessing of fluid and timesensitive accounts of individual experiences, leading to more nuanced understandings of temporal subjectivities. However in practice maintaining a sample in QL research, which may span a number of years, can be challenging and the process of going back, complicated. This paper reflects on issues and responsibilities which can arise when researchers try to access and go back to participants, especially where experiences once optimistically narrated and future-oriented have unfolded in unplanned and personally unwelcome ways. Using researcher experiences and the data from later phases of two UK based QLR studies on transition
  to first-time motherhood and first-time fatherhood, the practical steps of maintaining contact, reconnecting with participants and going back are documented. How does the passage of time and changes in participant’s lives alter research relationships, interpretations of data and researcher responsibilities?
  Website 
• Dermott E, Miller T, 'More than the sum of its parts? Contemporary fatherhood policy, practice and discourse'
  Families, Relationships and Societies 4 (2) (2015) pp.183-195
  ISSN: 2046-7435 eISSN: 2046-7443
  Abstract
  The ‘involved’ father, who is emotionally and economically engaged, has become a recognisable ideal in many Western societies. Policy changes have to varying degrees endorsed practices of involvement especially around the time of birth and during the early weeks and months of a child’s life. Discursive changes are discernible too as men engage a language of caring, bonding and emotional, intimate connection through ‘being there’ as a father. And research on the everyday practices of fathers also indicates some degree of change. But how far are these shifts indicative of a new type of fatherhood? In this article we document key research findings, assess their significance and most importantly assess what is the cumulative effect of these changes. We conclude that while contemporary practices of fathering must be understood and explained within broader cultural and economic milieu, the multiplicity of shifts does indeed infer a new durability.
  Website 
• Hinton L, Miller T, 'Mapping Mens Anticipations and Experiences in the Reproductive Realm: (in) Fertility Journeys'
  Reproductive BioMedicine Online 27 (2013) pp.244-252
  ISSN: 1472-6483 eISSN: 1472-6491
  Abstract

  This paper examines men’s experiences of fertility/infertility against a backdrop of changing understandings of men’s role in society and medical possibilities. It presents findings from two qualitative research projects on men’s experiences of engagement with reproductive health services as they sought to become fathers and anticipate impending fatherhood. The findings from both projects provide insights into men’s experiences of (in)fertility and their engagement with services set against cultural ideals of masculinity. Discussions of reproduction have historically focused most centrally upon women’s bodies and maternal processes, leaving little space for consideration of men’s experiences and perspectives. While women’s experiences of infertility/fertility have been characterized in relation to productive or faulty biological processes, male infertility has been largely invisible and male fertility typically assumed. This context provides a difficult terrain for men in which to contemplate the potential of not being able to father a child. The findings discussed in this paper illuminate the ways in which men talk about and make sense of their reproductive journeys. In doing so, it challenges current understandings of masculinity and reproductive bodies and highlights the need to rethink how men are treated in reproductive spheres and how services to men are delivered.

  This paper examines the results of two interview studies that explored men’s experiences of fertility and infertility against a backdrop of changing understandings of men’s role in society and rapidly changing medical possibilities. It draws together two separate qualitative research projects that explored men’s experiences of seeking to become fathers. One followed men as they became fathers for the first time, the other was a study of men’s experiences of infertility. The findings from both projects are analysed to provide insights into men’s experiences of fertility and infertility and their engagement with health services, set against current social and cultural ideas of masculinity. Before the advent of fertility treatment, discussions of reproduction focused almost exclusively on the woman’s body. Pregnancy and childbirth was women’s business. There was little consideration of men’s experiences and perspectives. Although male factor infertility is now a leading cause of couples seeking treatment, the focus remains the woman. As assisted reproduction treatment has developed over the last half-century, most social and psychological research has explored the woman’s perspective. The findings discussed in this paper illuminate the ways in which men try and make sense of their own successful or unsuccessful reproductive journeys. In doing so it challenges current understandings of masculinity and reproductive bodies. It also highlights how we need to perhaps rethink how men are treated in reproductive spheres and how services to men are delivered.

  Website 
• Miller T, 'Balancing caring and paid work in the UK: narrating 'choices' as first-time parents'
  International Review of Sociology 22 (1) (2012) pp.39-52
  ISSN: 0390-6701
  Abstract Paid work is generally accepted as an important dimension of hegemonic masculinities and men's identities, which can become heightened when they become fathers. Changes in global economies together with educational shifts and other demographic patterns mean that paid work has become a significant feature of many women's lives too. Increasingly across Europe women who are mothers combine caring, domestic chores, and paid work. Using data from a qualitative longitudinal study on women's experiences of transition to first-time motherhood in the UK, this paper will explore how women narrate and reconcile their decisions either to return to paid work or not to, following the birth of their first child (Miller 2005). These findings are considered alongside a companion study on men's experiences of transition to first-time fatherhood (Miller 2011). The comparison shows that women articulate work and caring decisions in narratives which convey a sense of ‘guilt', whilst the men are able to talk more freely - and acceptably - about ‘career progression' and the importance of work to their identity and their new family. Even though recent research points to some changes in men's involvement in caring and women's increased activities in the work-place, particular aspects of these arrangements remain seemingly impervious to change.Website 
• Vieira C, Portela A, Miller T, Coast E, Leone T, Marston C, 'Increasing the Use of Skilled Health Personnel Where Traditional Birth Attendants Were Providers of Childbirth Care: a Systematic Review'
  PLoS ONE 7 (2012)
  ISSN: 1932-6203
  Website 
• Miller T, 'Falling back into gender?: Men's narratives and practices around first-time fatherhood'
  Sociology 45 (6) (2011) pp.1094-1109
  ISSN: 0038-0385
  Abstract This article explores men's articulations and practices of gender through transition to first-time fatherhood. Using qualitative longitudinal data, men's antenatal intentions and postnatal practices are explored in this study which replicates earlier research on motherhood. The contemporary context in the UK is one where paternity leave, discourses of caring masculinities and more public displays of fathering involvement appear to offer new possibilities for men. But data analysis shows that whilst opportunities to disrupt gender norms are initially imagined, longer term practices can confirm ‘patriarchal habits'. The findings illuminate gender being done and undone, at times simultaneously, as the exhaustion and hard work of new parenting is encountered. A retreat into normative behaviours can be a path of least resistance as experiences unfold in an arena where men are found to have available to them a wider repertoire of discursive storylines. Optimistically, some changes in fathering involvement are discernible.Website 
• Miller T, 'Is This What Motherhood Is All About? - Weaving Experiences and Discourse Through Transition to First-time Motherhood'
  Gender and Society 21 (2007) pp.337-358
  ISSN: 0891-2432 eISSN: 1552-3977
  Website 
• Miller T, Boulton M, 'Changing Constructions of Informed Consent: Qualitative Research and Complex Social Worlds'
  Social Science & Medicine 65 (11) (2007) pp.2199-2211
  ISSN: 0277-9536
  Abstract

  Informed consent is a concept which attempts to capture and convey what is regarded as the appropriate relationship between researcher and research participant. Definitions have traditionally emphasised respect for autonomy and the right to self-determination of the individual. However, the meaning of informed consent and the values on which it is based are grounded in society and the practicalities of social relationships. As society changes, so too do the meaning and practice of informed consent. In this paper, we trace the ways in which the meaning and practice of informed consent has changed over the last 35 years with reference to four qualitative studies of parenting and children in the UK which we have undertaken at different points in our research careers. We focus in particular on the shifting boundaries between the professional and personal, and changing expressions of agency and power in a context of heightened perceptions of risk in everyday life. We also discuss developments in information and communication technologies as a factor in changing both the formal requirements for and the situated practicalities of obtaining informed consent. We conclude by considering the implications for informed consent of both increasing bureaucratic regulation and increasingly sophisticated information and communication technologies and suggest strategies for rethinking and managing ‘consent’ in qualitative research practice.

  Website 
• Miller T, 'Losing the Plot: Narrative Construction and Longitudinal Childbirth Research'
  Qualitative Health Research 10 (2000) pp.309-323
  ISSN: 1049-7323
  
• MILLER T, 'Shifting Boundaries - Exploring the Influence of Cultural Traditions and Religious Beliefs of Bangladeshi Women on Antenatal Interactions'
  Women's Studies International Forum 18 (1995) pp.299-309
  ISSN: 0277-5395
  

Book chapters

• Miller T, 'Making sense of motherhood and fatherhood: Competing moral discourses and logics of caring and work 'choices' in the UK' in Work-Family Dynamics: Competing Logics of Regulation, Economy and Morals, Routledge (2019)
  ISBN: 1138860077
  
• Miller T, 'Doing narrative research? Thinking through the narrative process.' in Woodiwiss, J, Smith, K, Lockwood, K. (Eds.) (ed.), Feminist Narrative Research Opportunities and Challenges, Palgrave Macmillan (2017)
  ISBN: 9781137485670 eISBN: 9781137485687
  Abstract

  Across social science disciplines there has been a growth in narrative research—the so called ‘narrative turn’. This turn echoes broader shifts associated with more complex social worlds, epistemological challenges and feminist responses. Narrative research typically involves exploring individual, subjective experiences through interview-based research, but can also range across researching group and organisational dynamics to document-based analysis. In this chapter the question of what constitutes narrative research is explored and illuminated using data from a qualitative longitudinal study on transition to first-time motherhood. The importance of developing a theoretical rationale when choosing a narrative research approach, together with suggested ways of analysing data once collected, is noted. Researching individual accounts of subjective experience and transitions as a feminist researcher provides opportunities, but challenges too.
  

  Website 
• Miller T A, 'Qualitative longitudinal research: researching fatherhood and father’s experiences' in Dermott E and Gatrell C (ed.), Fathers, Families, and Relationships: Researching Everyday Lives, Policy Press (2017)
  
• Miller T, 'Reconfiguring research relationships: regulation, new technologies and doing ethical research' in Ethics in Qualitative Research, Sage Publications (2012)
  ISBN: 9781446210888
  

Reviews

• Miller T A, review of Father and Daughter: Patriarchy, Gender and Social Science, in Journal of Social Policy 45 (3) (2016) pp.576-578ISSN: 0047-2794 eISSN: 1469-7823
  Website 
• Miller T, review of Biographical Methods and Professional Practice: An International Perspective, in International Journal of Social Research Methodology 11 (2008) pp.84-85ISSN: 1364-5579 eISSN: 1464-5300
  
• Miller T, review of Perfect Motherhood: Science and Childrearing in America, in Journal of Marriage and Family 69 (2007) pp.1368-1369ISSN: 0022-2445 eISSN: 1741-3737