Child Rearing Experience Among Mothers of Children with Severe CHD

중증 선천성 심질환 아동 어머니의 양육경험

Purpose: To explore the experiences of parenting from the mothers of children with severe CHD and to develop a grounded theory about their experiences. Method: Grounded theory method guided the data collection and analysis. A purposeful sample of 16 mothers of children with severe CHD participated during the period 2003. The data were collected by semi-structured individual interviews. Results: "Raise with dignity" emerged as the core phenomenon. 'Powerlessness' came up as the central concept. The causal conditions working on powerlessness was 'living with a bomb in the heart': uncertainty and the context were 'confronting people's eyes', 'developing child's adaptability'. An intervening condition was 'forming a support system' and consequences for coping with powerlessness were 'overcome' or 'ambivalence' using the strategies for mother's positive personality, care role perception, accepting, acknowledgement, and managing the body and mind. Conclusions: In the results of this study, the mothers of children with severe CHD are continue to struggle with life during children's growth and repeated attacks of disease. They need to be provided with skills to cope with physical and mental problems in rearing the children with expertized information for the entire period of growth.