Foreign Immigrant Mothers' Experiences of Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Child Rearing

결혼이민자 어머니의 임신, 출산 및 영유아 양육 경험

Purpose: This study was conducted to explore foreign immigrant mothers' experiences of pregnancy, childbirth, and child rearing. Methods: Ten married female migrants were selected by a purposive and snowball sampling method. Data were collected during the period from September to November, 2009 by individual in-depth interviews and all interviews were audio-taped and transcribed verbatim. Results: Ten categories were induced: In pregnancy and childbirth domain, social support-request help to their own parents, social support-depending on husband and mother's in law, Enduring emesis-gravidarum in strange environment were extracted. In Chid-rearing domain, child-rearing overburden, lack of self-confidence on maternal role, child-rearing difficulties due to language barrier, lack of information and education on child-rearing, lack of accessibility to public health care services, expectation of child's assimilation in Korea, financial strain in child-rearing. Conclusion: This study provides basic knowledge regarding married female migrants' experiences related to pregnancy, childbirth, and child rearing. The findings of the study will help health professionals designing effective interventions for married female migrants with difficulties related to child care, parenting, rearing.