• 부모자녀건강학회지
• /
• 제4권1호
• /
• pp.19-34
• /
• 2001

The childbearing process is not only a biological phenomenon of a woman who gives birth to a child but also a sociocultural phenomenon which is reflected on her value, belief in the sociocultural context according to social change and acculturation. The familial relation and sociocultural context in the multigravidas are more complex and intermingled than in the primigravidas. The purpose of this ethnographic research study was to explore the experience of identity from the first trimester of pregnancy to the third trimester of pregnancy in the Korean multigravidas and to understand deeply the perspectives of pregnant women reflected on Korean sociocultural values, beliefs, norms and familial culture. The participants of 10 pregnant women in Seoul, Korea were observed for 10 months from January to October 2000 and interviewed in their homes and comfortable place. Data analysis was accomplished 'line by line method' and significant concepts were classified according to themes, categories, and domains. The results of this study were as follows : The participants experienced 4 categorized subjects : understanding the oneself - mother to be, performing the dual role, drifting the emotion, and living disheartened during pregnancy. The participants were showed universality and diversity pattern in the self understanding process. The universal pattern were 'mother to be' showing maturation, life along family and priority on motherhood between being a mother and a woman. The diverse pattern were taking the dual role in working mothers having the higher self actualized value and personal identity rather than maternal identity, drifting emotion in resigned mothers, and living disheartened in mothers who have two daughters and no son. In conclusion, the Korean multigravidas experienced womanhood as well as motherhood through the self understanding process with familial connections during pregnancy. Therefore it is suggested that if the harmony and the 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 during pregnancy in the perspectives of the women with children. Therefore, the health care providers have to divert their attention from biomedical perspectives to biocultural perspectives integrating bio-psycho-sociocultural aspects of pregnant women in a clinical setting.