2017 Volume 20 Issue 1 Pages 51-61
Purpose: The purpose of this study was to specify parenting troubled mothers’ shifting states of consciousness towards their children in group sessions organized by public health nurses.
Method: Survey data was collected from participants of the group sessions (6 in 2008 and 4 in 2009) held in A City by recording the sessions and asking participants to write a comment on every session, fill out a questionnaire and be interviewed at the first session, the last session and 6 months after the last session. The data on the mothers’ self judgement on their parenting were distilled for qualitative and descriptive analysis.
Results: The category distilled from the mothers’ introspection shows characteristic results in each phase. The participants realize that their mindset has shifted in group sessions and their parental attitudes towards their children improved as they looked back on their parenting and their own childhood. By the time the last session ended, they learned to ask for help and improved parenting skills, and 6 months after the last session they found new values in life and didn’t get irritated unnecessarily. On the other hand, worries and anxiety for parenting existed at every phase.
Conclusions: The group sessions provided encouragement for the mothers to reflect on their behaviors, which eventually helped them acquire new values. This study indicates that mothers improve themselves within a comfortable setting, provided by public health nurses, in which to talk and look back on their past.
