• Women's Health Nursing
• /
• v.7 no.4
• /
• pp.518-535
• /
• 2001

Nursing practices should be based on the understanding of human beings. In order to understand human beings, it is important to study the lifestyles and thoughts of people in their natural environment. In this sense, the cultural aspects of a society need to be studied for a culture-bound nursing service. Child care, which is an important element of nursing, is also strongly influenced by the culture of a society. Therefore, a cultural study is necessary to understand the child-rearing practices of any society. The major purpose of this dissertation is to provide basic foundations for developing a culture-based theory for nursing intervention through studying traditional cultural elements of child care in Korean society. The study examined child-rearing practices in a small village on Koje Island in the southern part of Korea. It utilized ethnographic methodologies including participatory observations and in-depth interviews. The study participants were 9 Korean mothers living on Koje Island. The average age was 52. The data were collected between July in 1998 and December in 1999. The average number of interviews per person was 7-8, and the duration of each interview was approximately 2 hours. The data were analyzed using the Spradley Analytical Method. The following 9 major child-rearing aspects of mothers on Koje Island were discovered as a result of the study: 1. Firstly, mothers on Koje Island were mostly concerned about the "Old Birth Goddess' Curse", especially during their child's early years. This concern was evidenced by their careful behavior when their child was very young and by their praying to the Old Birth Goddess not to be jealous of their babies. 2. Secondly, they wished their children to live a different and better life than themselves. It was represented by their strong motivation toward their children's education as well as their expectation for their children's success. In traditional Korean culture, Korean people think that the rise and fall of the household depend on their offsprings. Therefore, Korean mothers wish their children attain to a higher level of social status through education. 3. Third, mothers are concerned about their children's righteousness. Mothers on Koje island expect their children to live with discretion, justice, strength, respect, harmony, and to do their best in life. 4. Next was an 'anticipation of their children's happy marriage'. The attributes of this category were an 'anxiety about their children's married life', and 'an expectation of a good spouse for their children'. Because Korean people believe that only a son can continue the bloodline of a family, especially Korean mothers have a great concern of the possibility of their daughters not having a son after marriage. Also they have different expectations toward their daughter-in-laws than son-in-laws. 5. Korean mothers also derived their satisfaction from their son. It was characterized by 'excessive affection toward their son', 'dependency on their son', and 'being afraid of their married daughter having a girl like themselves'. Korean society has been a patriarchy. Therefore, a son is beloved as someone who will take care of his old parents, be in charge of ancestral rites, and provide a daughter-in-law who can conceive a son. 6. The sixth category concerned 'the differences in their expectations for their children'. The attributes in this category were 'different expectations depending on their children's gender', 'different expectations depending on their children's ability', and a 'great sympathy toward children with low abilities'. Korean mothers expect their son to become better than their daughter. 7. The seventh category was related to their 'roles in child-caring practices'. Traditionally a child was raised in an extended family system in Korea So it was not the sole duty of a mother to bring up the child. Korean mothers used to receive much help rasing children from their in-laws, and family members. On the other hand, many children grew up by themselves, because their mothers were very busy taking care of housework. Furthermore, many children also grew up in poverty. 8. Mothers also had issues related to 'conflicts in child rearing'. They were characterized by 'lack of understanding', 'rudeness of children', and 'giving vent to one's anger'. 9. Finally, mothers regretted not doing their best in child-rearing practices. It was characterized by a 'bitter feeling of repentance', 'feeling irritated', and 'feeling of unsatisfaction'.

• Women's Health Nursing
• /
• v.18 no.2
• /
• pp.85-97
• /
• 2012

Purpose: This study was done to explore the lived experience of pregnancy, childbirth, postpartum and early child rearing in married immigrant women in urban areas. Methods: Data were collected from February to April, 2011 through in-depth interviews. Nine immigrant women were selected in a metropolitan area through the purposive and snowball sampling method. After obtaining IRB permission and informed consent from the participants, all interviews were recorded with MP3 recorder and transcribed for analysis. Using the phenomenological approach, data collected through in-depth interviewing were analyzed following Colaizzi style. Results: Data analysis revealed 4 categories and 10 themes related to pregnancy, childbirth, postpartum and early child rearing of married immigrant women in urban areas. These four categories were 'A clumsy foreigner's life with nostalgia', 'Crisis in the crisis', 'Unprepared for motherhood', and 'Living together with new family without regrets'. It was a common finding that they were not ready to be mothers because of the very short time for adjustment in Korea. Compared to rural, immigrant women urban women had various in social support systems. Conclusion: The results indicate that adequate education is needed for immigrant women regarding motherhood, and that this education should be culturally appropriate for these women.

• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
• /
• v.50 no.8
• /
• pp.41-52
• /
• 2012

The purpose of the current study is to examine the role of mothers' personality traits in predicting their parenting stress. The study subjects were married working woman who live at Gyeonggi-do and has their first child studying in elementary, middle, or high school. Collected data were analyzed with SPSS WIN 18.0 program. The results were as follows.: First, it has been shown through examination of the general tendency of observation subjects' relative factor, that many have above average parenting stress. The compositing factor for parenting stress were mainly the burden and distress of the parent role. Second, the differences in parenting stress were affected by relative variables in accordance with the general features of the study object. If the younger the parent, the higher the education, the lower the age of the first child, and if there were a child assistant after school, the parenting stress became larger. Third, after controlling for demographic characteristics, employed mothers' neuroticism significantly predicted greater parenting stress. When mothers had more conscientiousness and openness, they reported less parenting stress which implied that interpretation and perception of child rearing experiences can vary depending on personality and predict parenting stress of working mothers.

• Women's Health Nursing
• /
• v.24 no.3
• /
• pp.252-264
• /
• 2018

Purpose: To understand the essentials of rearing conflict experience by three shift nurses in advanced general hospitals. Methods: The design was a qualitative research of phenomenology. Participants were 7 shift nurses working in advanced general hospitals who were rearing young children. Data were collected individually through in-depth interview on their life experiences. Data were analyzed by Colaizzi's phenomenological methodology. Results: Eighteen themes were drawn from 256 meaningful experiences and these themes were integrated to six theme clusters. The most influencing themes were 'Regret that I cannot satisfy even the slightest wish', 'Fail to care for kids', and 'Mutual feeling to care giver between appreciation and inconvenience'. Other themes were as follows: 'Body and mind are broken', 'The need for a three-shift system to support nurses who are rearing children', 'Doing my best for work and child rearing'. Conclusion: The nature of three-shift nurses working in advanced hospital and caring kids is explained as 'lives with conflict' between work and home. This study suggests it is necessary to establish a 24-hour care center for 3-shift nurses to keep working while rearing their children.

• Korean Journal of Child Studies
• /
• v.29 no.1
• /
• pp.115-131
• /
• 2008

Using the narrative method of qualitative research, this study of the puerperal period (6 weeks just after delivery) analyzed how mothers, after birthing their first child, changed from women to mothers. The survey of 8 mothers was implemented by personal interviews, talking on the phone, or chatting on the internet 5 to 7 times each over one year. Results showed that mothers first realized that they were changing from women to mothers by experiencing sudden physical changes through delivery and lactation and by such childrearing behaviors as feeding, bathing, and putting their child to bed. Mothers recognized this process was facilitated by relationships with others owing to their shared interest in the child.

• Korean Journal of Child Studies
• /
• v.28 no.2
• /
• pp.251-265
• /
• 2007

Participants in this study were 1.245 4th and 5th graders and their parents from 8 elementary schools in Seoul, Daejeon, and Pusan. Using the Korean Youth Self-Report (K-YSR), children's behavior problems were measured and assigned to either clinical or normal groups. Between group differences were that the educational level of mothers of internalizing girls was lower than that of normal girls. Girls with internalizing problems had more siblings than normal girls. Parents of both boys and girls with either internalizing or externalizing problems were more rejecting and/or permissive than parents of children without behavior problems. Fathers of children with behavior problems perceived more marital conflicts, while mothers whose children have behavior problems had more negative family-of-origin experiences compared to parents of normal children.

• Korean Journal of Human Ecology
• /
• v.13 no.4
• /
• pp.537-553
• /
• 2004

This ethnographic case-study explores the daily experiences in child-rearing and education among Korean full-time housewives. For this purpose, 11 full-time housewives in their thirties and forties from the middle class were interviewed with an unstructured questionnaire. The findings are as follows: Full-time housewives tend to assume the full responsibility for child-caring and education. Their time is structured around the schedules of caring children and participating in educational programs for children. The most demanding tasks for them include preparing for a preschool, getting the children ready for school, rendering supports for children's schools, extra curricular education, and arranging and offering gift money to teachers. They feel that their husbands do not provide enough supports for child-caring and education. Despite all the negative experiences, Korean full-time housewives put in whatever they have to make sure their children's well-being and to provide the best education possible for their children; the maternal identity plays a role of the utmost importance in them.

• Korean Journal of Child Studies
• /
• v.28 no.1
• /
• pp.71-94
• /
• 2007

To examine the parenting experiences of North Korean parents in South Korea, seven parents(a father, a grandmother and five mothers) were interviewed about their parenting beliefs, attitudes and behaviors. It was found that parents from North Korea felt a safe existence including safety from hunger in South Korea but they were afraid of the many cars and unfamiliar diseases in South Korea. They had many difficulties with unfamiliar child rearing practices and parental roles in South Korea. Their confusion about good parenting was compounded by psychological and physical after-effects of the escape from their native country. They found help in adjusting to parenting in South Korea by such social networks as child care centers.

• Women's Health Nursing
• /
• v.7 no.3
• /
• pp.271-283
• /
• 2001

The childbearing process is a sociocultural phenomenon of a woman who gives birth to a child as well as a biological phenomenon. The purpose of this ethnographic research study was to explore the experience of childbearing process of mothers with children from pregnancy to the 3 months postpartum in Korea and to understand deeply the perspectives of childbearing women reflected on Korean sociocultural values. A convenient sample of 10 childbearing women were observed from January to October 2000 through field work in Seoul, Korea. Data analysis was accomplished under ongoing process. The results of this study were as follows : The mothers with children experienced self-reflection, family relation, and physical adaptation during pregnancy. In self-reflection, all mothers experienced universality and diversity in their self-discovering process. The universal experiences were maturation, life with family and priority on maternal value between being a mother and a woman. The diverse experiences were taking a dual role of working mother, emotional drift of a resigned mother, and disheartened life of a mother who has two daughters. In family relation, the foundation of the new marital relationship were attained during childbearing process and sexual life were changed for the benefit of a healthy mother and a healthy baby. All mothers established friendly relations with their mothers, but established friendly or conflicting or constraining relations with their mother-in-laws due to husband based family culture. In physical adaptation, the informants endured well the physical discomfort and recognized general appearance change. Also maternal-fetal interaction occurred and mothers realistically felt motherhood and accepted themselves as mother-to-be. The mothers prepared for the best delivery, look for a safe childbirth center, newborn goods, endorsed family coping during hospitalization and responded labor pain to make it more endurable, less painful, fast passed owing to labor recognition of the natural process to be a mother. After childbirth, they felt emancipation, satisfaction, accomplishment, more easiness, actually feeling as mother-to-be, emptiness, and showed response to the sex of newborn. Their Sanhujori practice was different according to the Sanhujori environment including provider, place, time in postpartum and reflected on Sanhubyung. The mothers felt actually mother-to-be and happiness during lactation regardless of feeding pattern. These mothers had a different maternal image about rearing subjecthood through their child-rearing experience. But all mothers felt need for family support and social support. The universal rearing response were actual feeling of mother-to-be, a strenuous experience, a pride on child-rearing, confusion, reflecting marital relationship, and wondering rivalry among children. In conclusion, mother of all with children went through self-discovery, self-reflection and made connections with the family as a mother and as a woman simultaneously during the childbearing process. Therefore it is suggested when harmony and balance between a mother and a woman is accomplished, the woman will lead a healthy and high quality of life. Also, this study sought to confirm the sociocultural factors affecting the childbearing process from the perspectives of the women with children. Therefore health care providers must understand deeply the childbearing women with children based on this finding of and try a integrative approach with new ideology of maternity with biocultural perspectives in a clinical setting.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
• /
• v.18 no.6
• /
• pp.1-26
• /
• 2018

This study examines 17 ex-offenders' wives who is receiving housing support from the Korea Rehabilitation Agency to understood the difficulties child-rearing experiences with the grounded theory. Based upon the research outcomes, supporting that needs for prisoners' wives who feel a huge burden on taking care of infants and preschool children by themselves was discussed. The prisoners' wives with children at school age and initial/middle adolescent need to get strong support due to not only the shock about husbands in prison but also the burden and stress that should follow the role as parents of students. Those late adolescent/adulthood who were supposed to follow their dreams, were required for their financial and emotional sacrifice. Result indicates children need to get support to form the right identity, not to get exhausted or shrink from being stigmatized and prejudiced as children of released prisoners.