2022 Volume 31 Pages 178-185
This study sought to identify factors that mothers of children with constant medical needs consider when deciding whether or not to request NICU discharge. We conducted semi-structured interviews with six mothers who were raising children that had been discharged from NICU etc. and that continued to receive medical care as outpatients. We analyzed interview data using the Qualitative Synthesis Method (KJ Method) which is an idea-generating and structure. We found six conditions that mothers experienced during their decision-making processes: (1) seeking coping: proactively searching for how to cope with their own anxiety caused by a constant life-threatening situation, (2) leave of responsibility: passively leaving decision-making to husbands because of feeling overwhelmed by their child’s life-threatening experience and by the weight of fulfilling their other family responsibilities, (3) acceptance of their child’s condition: acceptance by developing a greater appreciation for the preciousness of life, (4) acquisition of information: acquiring reliable information to be able to live with a child with severe medical needs, (5) feelings of happiness among family members: family members feeling happy by spending time with a child with severe medical needs, and (6) construction of a new lifestyle: constructing a lifestyle that provides intensive home-base care. Mothers experienced (1) and (2) as conflicting conditions, and transformed to feel (3). Through (4), mothers felt (5) and reached to (6). These six conditions circulated and developed to a point of decision-making regarding discharge.
