Res Community Public Health Nurs.  2025 Mar;36(1):99-111. 10.12799/rcphn.2024.00829.

A Phenomenological Study on Vietnamese Immigrant Mothers Married to Koreans’ Parenting Experience in Preventing Infant Accidents and Injuries

• Kim MS
• Kim MH
• Park S

• KMID: 2566312
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.12799/rcphn.2024.00829

Abstract

Purpose
This study aims to analyze the essence of infant parenting experiences of Vietnamese immigrant mothers married to Koreans’.
Methods
The study participants are mothers who came to Korea from Vietnam as marriage immigrants, and have an experience of parenting infants in less than one year or are currently parenting infants. Data collection was carried out by interviews, and Colaizzi’s phenomenological method was used for analysis.
Results
Total 17 meaning units, 8 themes and 3 theme clusters were identified. The three theme clusters are as follows: 1) A strange land, journey to ‘mother’, 2) A moment of carelessness, an unexpected accident, 3) The first step to safe parenting.
Conclusion
Vietnamese immigrant mothers have experienced of a sudden transition to motherhood in Korea, and have raised their infants in a bicultural environment. While raising their infants, they have encountered unexpected accidents due to differences in parenting culture and lifestyle. Nevertheless, Vietnamese immigrant mothers have made efforts to care for their infants safely and have shared parenting responsibility with their husbands. They also recognized the need for infant safety education based on community support. Therefore, in the future, infant safety education programs that consider cultural differences will be necessary.

Keyword

Infant; Parenting; Safety; Vietnam; Mother