Lived Experience of the Mother's Caring of Adult Children with Persistent Vegetative State

Young-Mi Yang; Jeung-Im Kim

doi:10.4069/kjwhn.2017.23.4.287

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Yang and Kim: Lived Experience of the Mother's Caring of Adult Children with Persistent Vegetative State

Original Article

Korean J Women Health Nurs 2017;23(4):287-298.

Published online: 20 January 2017

DOI: https://doi.org/10.4069/kjwhn.2017.23.4.287

Lived Experience of the Mother's Caring of Adult Children with Persistent Vegetative State

Young-Mi Yang¹, Jeung-Im Kim^2,

¹Department of Nursing, Backsuk University, Cheonan, Korea

²School of Nursing, Soonchunhyang University, Cheonan, Korea

Corresponding author: Kim, Jeung-Im School of Nursing, Soonchunhyang University, 31 Suncheonhyang 6-gil, Dongnam-gu, Cheonan 31151, Korea. Tel: +82-41-570-2493, Fax: +82-41-570-2498, E-mail: jeungim@sch.ac.kr

Received 10 October 201730 November 2017 Accepted 11 December 2017

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to deepen understanding the nature of the care experience by the mothers with adult children in persistent vegetative state.

Methods

Participants were 7 mothers caring for their adult children in persistent vegetative state. Data were collected individually through in-depth interviews on their lived experiences. Also texts were included as data from literary works, novels, movies, essays, and arts containing on patients with persistent vegetative state and their mothers. Data were analyzed by van Manen's phenomenological methodology.

Results

The essential themes of caring experiences of the mothers were as follows. The theme in relation to lived time has shown as back to the past and caring experience related lived body has emerged as locked the body in children. The theme related lived space was getting into the swamp and the theme in lived others was derived as lonely struggle into.

Conclusion

The nature of mothers' caring experiences for adult children in persistent vegetative state is summarized as ‘Do not off hand of hope in a locked state'. This study suggests long-term supports are necessary for mothers to care persistent vegetative state children.

Keywords: Adult children, Caring, Mothers, Persistent vegetative state, Qualitative research

References

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Table 1.

General Characteristics of Mothers and Adult Children with Persistent Vegetative State

Characteristics		1	2	3	4	5	6	7
Mother	Age (yr)	49	50	69	61	50	64	64
	Education	University	High school	Elementary	Elementary	Elementary	Elementary	Elementary
	Religion	Buddhist	Protestant	None	Buddhist	Protestant	Protestant	Buddhist
	Economical status	Medium	Low	Medium	Medium	Medium	Medium	Medium
	Caring place	Home	Home	Hospital	Hospital	Home	Hospital	Hospital
Adult child with PVS	Age (yr)/Gender	22/F	24/M	44/M	25/M	29/M	37/M	37/M
	Medical diagnosis	Brain tumor	Cerebral infarction	Hypoxic brain injury	Hypoxic brain injury	Cerebral hemorrhage	Brain tumor	Cerebral hemorrhage
	Period after diagnosis	8 years	7 years	17 years	9 years	Over 4 years	8 months	7 months

PVS=persistent vegetative state; Elementary=elementary school.

Table 2.

Essential Themes of the Life Experience of the Mother's Caring Adult Children with Persistent Vegetative State

Essential	Themes	General themes
Locked the body in children (lived body)	Exhausted and sick body	․ A body that can not move an inch ․ A body have problems here and there ․ A body should take up
	Body with children	․ Body should be your on-call staff ․ children and bodies as one body ․ Body that can't sick
Getting into the swamp (lived space)	Roller coaster not stopped	․ Strong but grief ․ Driven by the edge ․ Lost space of life ․ A clearer day after a long rainy season
	Blind spot of treatment	․ Denied by the medical institution ․ A step slow response
Back to the past (lived time)	Taking care of baby	․ To face an unexpected situation ․ To accept my fate
	Sea fog covered morning	․ Wander to find the answer ․ Seeing the shadow of death ․ Guild tripping moments
	Time is medicine	․ Time to appreciate and put it down ․ A precious moments together ․ Moments in the hope of breathing
Lonely struggle into (lived other)	Changing relationship	․ Dispersion of the family members ․ To see each other's thought ․ Acquaintances to go away
	Love more	․ The rejection to accept charity for ․ Understanding eyes and facial expression only ․ The importance of children must be respected ․ Taking eat all that good for children
	Pray to God	․ Praying without a break ․ To build on a new religion

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