Family development and Family system rearing disabled children

2004 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary

• Project/Area Number: 13672490
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: 基礎・地域看護学
• Research Institution: University of Occupational and Environmental Health
• Principal Investigator: HAMADA Yuko University of Occupational and Environmental Health, School of Health Sciences, Assistant Professor, 産業保健学部, 講師 (60285541)
• Project Period (FY): 2001 – 2004
• Keywords: a disabled child / family / father / mother / family nursing / family development / family system

Research Abstract

This is a qualitative inductive research which is aimed at clarifying the process in which a family with a disabled child links him/her to society. A continuous comparative analysis which is based on the Grounded Theory Approach was employed, and the modified version (m-GTA) was used as concrete analytical methods which have been proposed by Kinoshita The subjects included 36 parents (16 pairs of parents and 4 mothers) with physically disabled children of mainly school age, and the parents gave the researcher their consent to cooperate with the study. As the data was collected, 1 to 2 interview sessions were taken with the subjects by using a semi-structured interview style.
Four categories found in this research were "acceptance of my child", "reality-orientation towards the society surrounding conditions of disability", "formation (reformation) of ‘our own family'", and "strategies which link disabled children to the society." During the period of rearing disabled children, the parent s gradually experienced "the acceptance of my child" and "being reality-orientated towards the society surrounding conditions of disability", while they were undergoing the "formation our own family." "Forming (reforming) our own family" in this research is composed of the sub-categories of the "parents' waver in confidence about themselves as ‘I'", "parents 'reconstruction of selves", and "creation of family life." The features were the parents' experiences in doubting themselves to "question about themselves" and "reconstruct themselves" before they created their own family life. During these processes the parents gradually have come to recognize the relationship between their children and the society and to use the "measures which link disabled children to the society." This study has revealed that the parents with disabled children have formed "my family" and stepped out into society not as special, but as normal families with disabled children undergoing the confrontation with their own children, the society, and themselves through their children being disabled.