Abstract
The objective of this study was to clarify the process of socialization of mothers who have twins, one of whom has a disability, and to examine their interactions with their husbands, children, and people around them using the Grounded Theory Approach.
The subjects were 14 mothers with a spouse and twins, one of whom had a disability.
The mothers with a disabled twin followed the socialization process of (1) beginning of nursing of twins, (2) perception and assumption of the role of a mother with disabled and healthy twins, (3) relief from conflict with the stereotype of twins, and (4) becoming a person who is helpful to others. They first“acquired the stereotype of twins”during the period of pregnancy, felt “bewilderment due to the unfamiliarity with the disability”and “preciousness of life regardless of the disability”characteristically of parents of disabled children, experienced“looking squarely at the disability by comparing the twins”and“being busy with nursing twins one of whom is disabled”characteristically of parents having a disabled twin, and eventually“perceived differ-ences between their own consciousness as a parent and that of their husbands.”
The mothers established their independent attitude of“developing mental strength”and“assuming the responsibility to support their disabled children”and acquired the role as a mother by“overcoming the temptation to hide the disability”and“understanding the two worlds simultaneously.”From the dilemma of“not being able to love the twins equally”and“feeling that it was fortunate that they were twins,”the mothers also thought that“the twins were not twins in reality because of the wide difference in their development”and that“it was natural to discipline them differently even though they were twins.”
The results of this study facilitate the determination of the timing of nursing support for mothers with a disabled twin, and suggest the necessity of the establishment or improvement of a family nursing system them.
