비혼모 삶의 경험

Abstract

ABSTRACT Living Experience of Unmarried Mothers Lee, Jeoung Sil Department of Nursing The Graduate School of HanYang University Directed by Professor Yoo, Eun Kwang, RN, Ph.D While the problems concerning unmarried mothers have had diverse causes, the focus has only been on the problems caused by unmarried mothers. Since the relationships with family and parents lay the ground for forming personality and have the strongest impact on behavioral type, it is significant to see the issue of unmarried mothers from the perspective of a life cycle. In answering the question “What is the structure and essence of unmarried mothers’ living experience?” qualitative research was conducted using Colaizzi’s (1978) phenomenological methodology to make in-depth analysis of and understand the present and past living experiences of unmarried mothers and give basic data that could help prevent women from becoming unmarried mothers and help develop good nursing interventions for them. Data were collected from in-depth personal interviews with a total of 10 informants, who were unmarried mothers aged ≥20 years: 9 residing in community centers for unmarried mothers and children, 1 in P region. Each interview lasted an hour and a half to two hours, each informant gave 1-2 interviews, and data were collected from October 2016 to February 2017 when they became saturated. 41 sub-themes, 16 themes, and 7 theme clusters were drawn. The 7 theme clusters were as follows. 1. Unexpected Burdensome Hardship, which contains two themes: “physical and mental separation from parents” and “failure to be protected anywhere.” 2. Life in a Bottomless Pit, which contains two themes: “life thrown out of the world” and “engagement in delinquency.” 3. Life Stained by Emotional Wounds, which contains two themes: “encounter and breakup” and “indelible wounds in mind.” 4. Ignorance of Sex-related Knowledge, which contains three themes: “openness to sex,” “ignorance of contraception,” and “ignorance of pregnancy.” 5. Endeavor to Protect a New Life Despite Confusion, which contains two themes: “distress and conflicts caused by a new life to bear alone” and “decision to rear the new life.” 6. Endurance through the Tough Reality as a Mother, which contains two themes: “burden of life pressing upon both shoulders” and “tough life to face alone.” 7. Overcoming Wounds and Standing Alone as a Proud Mother, which contains three themes: “strong prop supporting myself,” “encounter with mature ‘me’ through hardships,” and “entering the world proudly.” In conclusion, the living experience of unmarried mothers is characterized by a refusal to accept unexpected hardships, resistance to them, and encounter with the course of life that falls into a pit, as well as by acceptance of a new life at a certain point, an endeavor to endure the weight of life, adherence to hope with a child, growth through hardships, and returning to society proudly. It is urgent to change social awareness in general with the objective of understanding unmarried mothers’ life, abandoning negative social positions and discrimination against unmarried women, recognizing differences, helping them live together with us, and making relevant nursing interventions and policy-based support. Key Words：Unmarried Mothers, Experience, Phenomenological Method