Lifestyle Adjustment Process to Maintain Family Life for Mothers with Children Who Need Home Medical Care

Abstract

This aim is to clarify lifestyle adjustment process to maintain family life for mothers with children who need home medical care. We conducted semi-structured interviews with the mothers of children who required home medical care comprising procedures such as suction of sputum and respiratory management over a period of several years since the initiation of home medical care, and analyzed the results using the modified grounded theory approach (M-GTA). We found the process to be composed of nine categories. Immediately after their child who required home medical care began living at home, mothers were concerned about the protection of their unstable child and, therefore, made care of the child a priority. However, they gradually started experiencing the need to engage services for the child in the course of their daily lives and live their lives with assistance. In the course of this new lifestyle, mothers began to regulate their fluctuating feelings and discover a new lifestyle for the family by making the father’s role clear and having him take on some responsibilities, such as dealing with people outside the household. As a result, once making home medical care consistent with the family’s lifestyle, even if this care was not at the same level as that provided while the child was hospitalized, mothers felt they found a way that allowed them to spend time with their other children. In addition, they began to perceive the necessity of maintaining their health, which is crucial to the child’s care. Overall, this facilitated incorporation of prospects for the family’s future life because they tended to pay more attention to their health and the health of their other children. Further, this contributed in coordination of the selection of services that would benefit the entire family, thereby maintaining the family’s lifestyle.