Child Health Nursing Research

Korean Academy of Child Health Nursing (한국아동간호학회)
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Parenting experiences of mothers of moderate-to-late preterm children in South Korea: a qualitative study

  • Received : 2022.08.07
  • Accepted : 2022.08.29
  • Published : 2022.10.31
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Abstract

Purpose: This study investigated the parenting experiences of mothers of young children born moderate-to-late preterm (MLPT) in South Korea. Methods: In this qualitative study, semi-structured focus group interviews were conducted with 10 mothers of MLPT children from infancy to preschool age. The interviews were video-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Results: Four categories resulted from the analysis of parenting experiences of mothers with young MLPT children, as follows: "becoming a mother of an early-born child", "difficulties as the primary caregiver for a high-risk child", "helpful social support, but still a lack of professional support for parenting a high-risk child", and "mothers and children growing together". Conclusion: Mothers of young MLPT children experienced difficulties due to concerns about their child's health, growth and development, and insufficient child-rearing support. Therefore, social support systems should be strengthened and more aggressive nursing strategies should be adopted for mothers of young MLPT children.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

This study was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korea government (No. 2020R1F1A1070799).

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