A Study of Facilitating School-Aged Children’s Interaction with His/Her Mothers who Have Cancer
Date Issued
2004
Date
2004
Author(s)
Chung, Chun-Chun
DOI
zh-TW
Abstract
The study adopts qualitative approach and is meant to understand and facilitate the interaction between school-aged children and their mothers with cancer. The study is conducted in a medical center in Taipei and has 5 qualified samples, including 1 boy and 4 girls, aged 7.8 years old on the average. Each sample was interviewed twice, with graphic, semi-structured guidance. The 5 cancer patients were interviewed 3 times, with semi-structured guidance. In the end, 233 behavior units are recognized. The researchers contacted each interviewed person at least twice to create familiarity before starting the survey, and during the process, the researchers take a listening, sharing, and observing role, trying to keep personal judgment least involved. Each interview is transcribed into narrative form and then the content is analyzed to classify and name the objects’ concern and coping behavior. The conclusions are as follows:
The school-aged children’s concerns are in 3 aspects: family relationship the highest 55.2%, then mother’s illness 35.3%, and school life the lowest 9.5%. In the aspect of family relationship, 57.4% is about the interaction among family members, in which 80% is about the change of family interaction. The mother cancer patients’ concerns are in 3 aspects: family relationship the highest 55.6%, then their own illness 37.7%, then marriage life the lowest 6.7%. In the aspect of family relationship, 45.2% is about the interaction among family members, in which 76.8% is about the change of family interaction.
The coping behavior of the children can be divided into 3 domains: cognitive operation 47.1%, adaptive behavior 44.3%, and evaluating behavior the lowest 8.6%. The coping behavior of the mothers can be divided into 3 domains: cognitive operation 46.2%, adaptive behavior 45.7%, and evaluating behavior the lowest 8.1%.
The intervention of nursing care is evaluated through analyzing the nonverbal interaction between children and their mothers in terms of frequency and time. The result shows the five cases increased meeting frequency by 3.64 times per week, and telecommunications decreased 2.90 times per week. And they increased 1.6 hours of meeting time and decreased 2.3 minutes in each telecommunication. In total, the contact time of these five pairs increased from 1.23 hours per week to 11.17 hours per week.
As to the verbal communication, through cards and drawings, the mothers can feel their children are sweet, considerate, caring about their mothers’ illness and treatment, positively facing mother’s illness, sharing father’s duties, and taking care of other family members. The children feel the researchers help enhance opportunities to get along with their mothers, gain new understanding of their mothers’ illness and treatment, and lower their misunderstanding and fear of the illness and its subsequences. The effects of the nursing care show that researchers help bridge mothers and children’s interaction. By providing cards and drawings, the researchers help them understand each other’s expectation of their interaction and emotions, and increase the interaction.
The findings of the study can facilitate the interaction between mothers with cancer and their school-aged children, and help nursing people understand the cognitive abilities and behavior of the patients’ children, so as to achieve the goal of “family-centered” nursing approach.
Subjects
關注
親子互動
母親
癌症
學齡期兒童
因應行為
school-aged children
cancer
mother
interaction
SDGs
Type
other