• Korean Parent-Child Health Journal
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.206-223
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• 2002

The purpose of this study was to discuss the nature of pregnancy experience among unwed Korean mothers and to figure out what it meant for them, by asking some of them to reflect on themselves in a written form from interpretative and phenomenological perspective, based on van Manen's research method of the same approach. The subjects in this study were seven unmarried mothers in Korea. The data were collected from July through December 2000 through in- depth interview and observation. The statements of the participants were taped, recorded, analyzed and select essential themes. To have a phenomenological understanding of the pregnancy unmarried mothers, literary works, including essays and novels, were reviewed. The findings of this study were as below: The selected substantial themes about the pregnancy and birth experiences of the single mothers included 'hatred for boy friend,' 'hatred for the fetus,' and 'hatred for myself.' The unmarried mothers met their boy friends through the introduction of friends. At first, they were good friends, but they soon went on a date and had sexual relation with no common knowledge about sex. Most of them were aware of their pregnancy after they felt fetal movement, but they put off taking the test because they didn't want to accept the fact and feared it. Such an attitude was rare among married pregnant women, and being pregnant with no prior preparation or sexual knowledge is not common in Western countries. They felt guilty and informed their boy friends of the fact, but the boy friends didn't admit their responsibility and rejected the babies. This made the poor girls hate them, and it turned into severe abhorrence. They thought their lives were ruined by the babies, and wished they would disappear. They reproached the babies, hitting their own bellies or making a kick. They considered themselves to be abandoned and didn't want to live any more. Giving themselves up to despair, some attempted to commit a suicide. They hoped to die, thinking their death would solve the problem. When they lost a chance of abortion and were about to have the babies adopted, they felt sorry for them. The unwanted pregnancy gave them a pain, but they keenly felt they were loved by their mothers, and learned the value of family. It's attempted in this study to clearly show how much unmarried Korean mothers suffered from pregnancy, and this effort paved the way for seeing unwed mothers in a new light and having a better understanding of them, instead of sticking to general perception.

• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.24 no.4 s.82
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• pp.75-92
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• 2006

This study examines the psychological independence in the family system of unmarried women to see how well they become psychologically independent within the relationships with family. A total of 452 subjects of the study were sampled from 20 to 30 unmarried women living in Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi-do. The results of the study are as follows: First, the scores of unmarried women's perception of family system were normal category. The scores of family system of unmarried women showed to be distributed to high scores among the overall ranges of scores which means they recognized their family system in general in a healthy way. Second, the level of the subjects' psychological independence from their fathers was shown to be higher than that from their mothers. The result means unmarried women were more dependent on their mothers than fathers. Third, the family system of unmarried women affected the level of psychological independence from their parents. The sub-factors of the family system significantly affected the level of psychological independence. Particularly, enmeshed and disengaged boundary and cooperative factors between spouses and generations affected the level of psychological independence. Fourth, the family system affected each sub-factor of psychological independence of unmarried women. Even though family system were different depending on each sub-factor of psychological independence, they affected the level of psychological independence.

• Women's Health Nursing
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.99-107
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• 2013

Purpose: This study was conducted to identify relationships among knowledge and attitudes of unmarried mothers toward emergency contraceptive pills. Methods: Data were collected through structured questionnaires from 135 unmarried mothers enrolled in 7 single mothers' facilities nationwide. Data were analyzed using the SPSS/WIN 17.0 program for descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, Scheffe-test, and Pearson correlation coefficients. Results: For knowledge about emergency contraceptive pills, there were significant differences among who live with her before pregnancy, experience of past pregnancies, state of present pregnancy and preparation in using contraceptives. For attitude toward emergency contraceptive pills, there were significant differences according to age, education level and religion. There were significant positive relationships between knowledge and attitudes toward emergency contraceptive pills. Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that unmarried women should be better informed about emergency contraceptive pills, and reassured about their safety. Efforts are needed to disseminate up-to-date information to experts in sex education including nurses.

• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.197-208
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• 2009

The purpose of this study is to examine the intergenerational transmission of mother-daughter attachment across three generations, and to determine whether the mother-daughter attachment of three generations influences the adult daughter's ego-resilience. The subjects of this study were 310 unmarried adult women aged 20${\sim}$29, residing in the Busan area, and their 310 middle-aged mothers. The mothers responded to two sets of questionnaire investigating their attachment to their mothers (G1-G2) in the past and the present attachment to their adult daughters (G2-G3). Meanwhile, the adult daughters were given questionnaires regarding their attachment to their mothers and their ego-resiliency. The measurements used for this study were the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment (IPPA) and the Ego-Resiliency Scale (ER). Among the distributed questionnaires, 265 sets were collected and 252 sets were actually analyzed using SPSS 12.0 after 13 sets had been excluded due to incomplete data. Basic statistics were used such as frequency analysis, Pearson's correlation and hierarchical regression analysis. The study results were as follows. First, the adult daughter-mother (G2-G3) attachment was explained mostly by mother-grandmother (G1-G2) attachment, daughter's age, and economic status of the family. The strongest factor was the mother-grandmother attachment which implies the transmission of attachment through generations. Second, among the factors that influenced the ego-resilience of an unmarried adult daughter, attachment to one's mother perceived by the daughter turned out to be the most significant. Especially, the more positive the adult daughter's emotion toward her mother and the higher the daughter's education, the stronger the ego-resilience of the adult single daughter was. It was concluded that the mother-daughter attachment remained consistent throughout three generations, which influenced the social-psychological adjustment of the adult unmarried daughter.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.98 no.1
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• pp.82-87
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• 2009

Therapeutic uses of forest are recently discussed as an alternative clinical or psychological program for diverse population. This study was to performed to investigate the influence of the therapeutic forest program on unmarried mothers' depression and self-esteem. From April to July of 2008, total 24 programs were performed to 70 unmarried women in Unmarried Mothers' House in Kyunggi-do. The results of data analyses indicated that there were significant improvements in their depression and self-esteem levels after their participation in the programs.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare Studies
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.57-83
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• 2011

The aim of this study is to elucidate the meaning of school dropout which teenager unmarried mothers have been experiencing. Thus, the researchers conducted in-depth interviews of 6 unmarried mothers to portray vividly their voices and the data were analyzed using a qualitative case study. Acording to the results, the meaning of school dropout of teenager unmarried mothers was redefined as the matter of "identity and status deprivation". Also, their school dropout expediences should be analyzed in the more extended perspective beyond the negative meaning of the existing studies. This meant " the one sided exclusion from academic community." This could be drawn with the implications that the exclusion acted as the inner mechanism of another social exclusion and their school dropout served as the bondages of their lifetime. That is, the problem of school dropout has the meaning of 'the present tense' and 'the future tense' simultaneously. Within this context, the phenomenon in which they experienced was acting as the foundation of a continuous exclusion and discrimination. Also, it was found that our society applied its standards to them unilaterally and they came to live as otherness through their pregnancy. Based on these results, this study has an important significance in that it overcame the limitations of previous research and investigated their subjective worlds.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.58 no.1
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• pp.373-393
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• 2006

This study aimed at understanding the experience in deciding for childcare of unmarried lone mother and searching for intervention methods through in-depth examination of the essence of the experience. To achieve this, the Colazzi analysis of phenomenological research was applied. The subjects of study were 7 unmarried lone mothers in early age of the twenties and thirties, who resided in an institution for unmarried lone mothers. An in-depth interview was held individually with them with question of "What is the experience in deciding for childcare as a unmarried lone mother" twice on the average from Nov. 2003 to Feb. 2005. The results found that a unmarried lone mothers' experience in childcare meant 'resurrection' through analyzing 22 themes and 7 theme clusters(confusion due to pregnancy, harsh feeling for reality suffering alone, feeling of love for a baby, mental conflict about childcare, decision toward childcare, firm in decision, hope for resurrection). Although the results of this study have the limitation of generalization due to phenomenological study, it will contribute to accepting and understanding mother-and-child families as one type of family rather than regarding them as being difficult or alienated in family and society, to recognizing the need of taking back their rights, and to suggesting intervention methods for unmarried lone mothers.

• Child Health Nursing Research
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.468-478
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• 2004

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to provide basic data for the development of education programs for unmarried mothers. Method: From a group of unmarried mothers using social welfare facilities, 201 participated in this study. The study was done from October 2003 to April 2004 and self-efficacy, self-esteem, sexual knowledge, sexual attitude were measured. Results: 1. On the basis of 100 points, self-efficacy averaged 62.76, self-esteem, 60.96, sexual knowledge, 58.75 and sexual attitude, 71.52. 2. According to the general characteristics of the women, there were significant differences in self-efficacy according to age (F=4.237, p=.006), schooling (F=5.071, p=.007), job prior to pregnancy (F=4.341, p=.002), and family income (F=6.183, p=.002). There was a significant difference in self-esteem according to family income (F=4.243, p=.016). There were significant differences in sexual knowledge according to age (F=3.950, p=.009), schooling (F=14.869, p=.000), family income (F=9.304, p=.001), number of pregnancies (t=-2.532, p=.012), and experience of abortion (t=2.775, p=.006), and, in sexual attitude according to schooling (F=7.356, p=.001) and family income (F=7.647, p=.001). 3. There were significant relationships between self-efficacy and self-esteem (r=.598, p=.000), and between sexual knowledge and sexual attitude (r=.569, p=.000). Conclusion: Pregnancy prevention programs should include sexual education and interventions designed to increase self-efficacy and self-esteem.

• Perspectives in Nursing Science
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.28-39
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• 2020

Purpose: To understand the core elements and the effects of interventions on the improvement of parenting capabilities of unmarried mothers living in residential facilities, this study reviewed the literatures related to this concept. Methods: Five electronic databases (KISS, KMbase, KoreaMed, NDSL, and RISS) were searched, and eight studies were ultimately selected for the integrative review. Results: The interventions were categorized into two types: psychological intervention and sociocultural intervention. The core elements of the psychological interventions included cognitive, emotional, behavioral, and relational contents. Sociocultural aspects included raising personal skills for finding social support resources. Various studies showed the effects of intervention on efficacy, attachment, or parenting behavior. Conclusion: Based on the results of this study, health promotion programs to improve maternal parenting competency for unmarried mothers living in residential facilities need to be developed and applied.

• Perspectives in Nursing Science
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.45-54
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• 2019

Purpose: The purposes of this study was to review the literature on intervention for treating anxiety and depression among unmarried mothers living in facilities, and to understand core that could promote the development of more effective interventions. Methods: Key words in English and Korean were used to search through eight electronic databases-PubMed, Cochrane Library, EMBASE, CINAHL, RISS, DBpia, NDSL, and the National Assembly Library. Results: Ten studies were ultimately selected for the integrative review and were evaluated in terms of contextual and methodological quality. The studies consisted of seven quasi-experimental studies and three case report studies. The selected studies utilized music, art, forest therapy, dancing, education, and play programs to change mothers' perceptions, emotions, and behavior and to improve their relationships with their babies or others. Conclusion: It is important to consider mothers' self-awareness and emotional expression, and to improve their relationships with their babies or others as core elements when developing intervention programs for anxiety and/or depression among unmarried mothers living in residential facilities.