2004 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
A study on the formation and transformation process of the consciousness of the mothers with severely disabled children-The case of the mothers whose mother role is reinforced-
| Project/Area Number |
13837016
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
ジェンダー
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| Research Institution | Tokyo Metropolitan University of Health Sciences |
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Principal Investigator |
NAKAGAWA Kaoru Tokyo Metropolitan University of Health Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, Associate Professor, 保健科学部, 助教授 (00305426)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2001 – 2004
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| Keywords | mothers of children with disabilities / formation and transformation of the consciousness / mother role norm / constraints arising from the mother role norm |
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| Research Abstract |
The purpose of this study is to discover the process in which the mothers of children with disabilities, form and transform their attitudes towards their children with disabilities, through interactions with the social environments, such as their family and relatives, health professionals, the other mothers of disabled children, society. In order to approach this purpose, semi-structured interviews and social survey were conducted with mothers of children with disabilities. The results indicated the following.
1. Mothers had formed an attitude of "total commitment," in which they became unified with their respective disabled child, had come to understand that relieving their child's disability was their mission, and had been trying to completely accept the life and disability of their child.
2. Subsequently, mothers recognized both what they would gain and what they would lose through such total commitment; consequently, they took care of their child in the midst of conflict.
3. As long as the goal of relieving the child's disability was maintained, total commitment was maintainable; however, when they experienced incidents which made them realize that they had to give up relieving their child's disability, and when they realized that what they would lose would be more than what they would gain through such total commitment, they consciously self-adjusted the mother role norm, which had until that time restricted them, and reduced their level of total commitment.
4. The mothers evaluated what types of effects were experienced by the child, themselves, and other family members, by decreasing their level of total commitment to the child, and they readjusted their level of commitment depending on evaluation of the results.
5. Through their decrease of total commitment, instead of negative feelings, the mothers rather experienced positive feelings in that they were glad that they had a child who was disabled.
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