• Child Health Nursing Research
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.93-111
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• 1996

The purpose of the study is to identify the lived experience of mothers who have children with cerebral palsy in order to understand their agony. Moreover, the result of study was to find some nursing intervention for disabled children and their mothers. For this purpose, ten mothers who are willing to cooperate with this research were selected at random from those who have children with the cerebral palsy, currently using the municipal facilities for the handicapped with cerebral malfunction. Data collection was done from October 4, 1994 th December 31, 1994. The data were collected by asking the mothers mentioned above with some unstructured open-ended questions, recorded on the tapes with permission by the interviewee in order to prevent missing of the interviewed contents. These collected data have been substantiated and properly analyzed on the basis of phenomenological approach initiated by Colaizzi's method. The results and validity are proved to be credible by means of the individual checking of the interviewed mothers. The results of this study are as follows : 1. When the mother is first informed of the diagnosis of cerebral palsy on her child, she usually misses the crucial timing needed for proper treatment of the child's disorder because she is notified through the doctor's indifference and his apparently inactive, matter-of-fact attitude. At first she suspects the doctor's diagnosis and tries to attribute it to the unknown cause from a certain genetic problem and then she quickly wants to deny the whole situation that her child is really suffering from the cerebral palsy. The reality is too much for her to accept as it is and she would not believe her child is abnormal. Therefore, she even attempts depend on the power of God for its solution. 2. The mother, who goes thorough this kind of uncommon experiences, is totally devoted to the treatment and care of the child and completely ignores her own life and happiness. At the same time, she feels sorry for her other normal children she believes having not enough care and concern. Also, she feels sorry for the sick child when the child's brothers or sisters show special concern for the patient out of sympathy. It is sorry and not satisfied for her that the child is growing with abnormality and neighbor other around have inappropriate attitudes. Likewise, she is discontent with her husband's lack of concern about the child's treatment. She believes that the health care system in this society isn't fulfilling its due purpose. In the state of her utmost distress and anxiety, she always feels the need of competent consultants, and is angry about that her child is treated as an abnormal being, she is trying to hide the child from other people and to make him or her disappear, if possible. Although she doesn't have harmonious relation with her husband, she id happy when he shows his affection for the child and she feels relieved and thankful when the relatives don't mention about the child's condition Since the child's overall status of health is continuously in unstable conditions, requiring her all-time readiness for an emergency, she feels guilty of her child's illness toward the fEmily members as if it was her own fault to have borne such an abnormal child and she feels responsible for the child morally and financially if necessary Because her life is centered on taking care of the child, she cannot afford to enjoy her own life and happiness. She is a lonely mother, fatigued, with no proper relationship with other people around her. With this sense of guilt and responsibility as a mother of an unusual disease, she has no choice but to grieve her destiny from which she is not allowed to escape. 3. Nevertheless, the mother with the child suffering from the cerebral palsy does not easily give up the hope of getting her child cured and she believes that in the long run, though slower than hoped, her abnormal son or daughter will be eventually cured to become a normal sibling someday. This kind of hope is sustained by the mother's strong faith coming from observing the progress of other similar children getting better. Sometimes she is encouraged to have this faith by other mothers who share the same painful experiences, believing that her child will improve even more rapidly than others with the same palsy. Full of hope, she painstakingly waits for the child's healing. Moreover, she plans to have another child. she thinks that the patient child's brothers and sisters only can truly understand and look after the patients. However, when she notices that the progress of other children under the treatment does not look so hopeful, she is distressed by the thoughts that her child may never get well. Too, she is worried that the patient's brother or sister will be born as the same invalid with the cerebral disease. She is discouraged to have another baby as much as she is encouraged to. She is also troubled by the thought that in case she has another baby, she will have to be forced. to neglect the patient child, especially when she does have an extra hand or some reliable person to help her with taking care of the patient.

• Journal of the Korean Society of School Health
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.57-71
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• 1994

I investigated actual conditions of smoking of teenagers who were randomly chosen middle and high school students. 1. Juvenile smoking 1) Parents' opinions of juvenile smoking Most parents do not want their children to smoke after growth : 88.6% of fathers (middle school students: 88.9%, high school students: 88.4%) and 95.1% of mothers (middle school students: 93.4%, high school students :95.5%). 2) Teenagers' opinions of smoking after growth The rate of students who will smoke after growth is 10.8% (middle school students: 12.0%, high school students: 9.9%): students in agricultural areas show the higher rate than those in cities. 3) Parents' opinions of their children's smoking now 1.5% of fathers want their children to smoke now (middle school students: 1.3%, high school students: 1.6%) and 1.1% of mothers do (middle school students: 0.6%, high school students: 1.5%). This shows that most parents do not want their children to smoke now. 4) Students' opinions of their friends' smoking now Students who want their friends smoke now cover 7.8% (middle school students: 7.1%, high school students: 8.4%). This rates are higher than those of parents shown in (3). And more high school students and more girl students gave the positive reponse than middle school boy and girl students, respectively. 5) Students' views of smoking "Look like an adult" covers the rate of 4.0% (boy: 7.8%, girl:3.6%) 6.7% of middle school students have this view, while 3.7% of high school students have. 16.1% of students had an experience of smoking during the last one year (boy: 29.9%, girl: 8.6%): this shows that the rate of the boy students is more than 3 times greater than that of the girl students and high students who experienced smoking last year covers 20.2%, while middle school students shows 10.9%. 6) Actual conditions of students' smoking The present rate of students' smoking is 22.4% (boy:38.3%, girl:13.8%): the rate of boy students is greater than that of girl students. Students who smoke more than pack of cigarettes a day cover 8.2% (boy: 17.5%, girl: 3.2%): 5.2% of middle school students (boy:11.4%, girl: 2.1%) smoke more than one pack while 10.7% of high school students do (boy:21.5%, girl: 4.2%). This shows that the rate of boy students' smoking is greater than that of girl students' smoking. 7) The rate of smoking of students' parents 75.4% of fathers (city: 74.5%, agricultural area:75.9%) smoke: and more than a half (62.4%) smoke more than a pack cigarettes a day. On the other hand, the rate of smoking mothers is 5.2%(city: 4.3%, agricultural area: 7.3%): the rate is higher in agricultural areas. 8) Opinions of smoking population in the future 61.4% of students answered that smoking population will increase, while 27.0% have the opinion that smoking population will decrease. 2. Opinions of the effects of smoking on health 1) Have you heard that smokers are likely to suffer from tuberclosis? 78.3% of students said yes (boy: 80.8%, girl: 76.4%): it is shown that the rate of boys is greater than that of girls. 2) Have you heard that smokers are likely to get out of endurance? 76.6% of students (boy: 69.3%, girl: 49.7%) answered yes: it is shown that the rate of boys is greater than that of girls. 3) Have you heard that heart-beats get fast when one smokes? 32.5% of students (boy: 35.5%, girl: 30.9%) answered yes: 32.2% in cities(boy: 33.0%, girl: 31.8%) and 33.5% in agricultural areas(boy: 41.8%, girl: 28.8%): and 28.7% middle students and 35.5% of high school students answered yes. 4) Have you heard that smokers are likely to have heart-diseases? 35.1% of students (boy: 34.0%, girl: 34.1%) answered yes: 35.3% in cities (boy: 37.2%, girl: 34.2%) and 36.7% in agricultural areas (boy: 39.0%, girl: 33.9%): 34.8% of middle school students and 35.4% of high school students. 5) Have you heard that smokers are likely to have a lung cancer? 91.4% of students (boy: 93.2%, girl: 89.9%) answered yes: 90.35% in cities and 94.2% in agricultural areas. 6) Have you heard that the life of smokers gets shorter? 94.3% of students (boy:94.6%, girl: 92.2%) answered yes. 7) Have you heard that pregnant smokers will deliver a baby with low birth weight? 29.6% of students (boy: 29.8%, girl: 29.4%) answered yes: the rates of boys and girls almost the same. 8) Have you heard that one feels calm when one smokes? 80.1% of students (boy: 81.8%, girl: 79.2%) answered yes: boys and girls showed almost the same rate. 3. Preventive measures Smoking people continued to increase all over the world because smoking not only mitigated emotional uneasiness such as loneliness, nervousness and so on, but also could be very helpful from the social perspective. This was so because they did not consider harmful effects of smoking on health, and victims. However, because any -one can have physical disorders caused by smoking, people should always keep in mind the following preventive measures. 1) Doctors or teachers should set an example of giving up smoking. Informing patients or students of harmful effects of smoking to persuade their family and relatives not to smoke. 2) Through mass media like newspapers, periodicals or broadcasting, to make people know harmful effects of smoking and not smoke. 3) To prohibit selling teenagers cigarette by law. 4) To prohibit smoking in public places like work places, offices, lecture rooms, recreation rooms, buses, trains and so on. 5) To decrease the rate of life insurance for non-smokers as in foreign countries and to give a warming of the harmful effects on cigarette packets or ads.