Learning to Live With Ambiguity: Rethinking Ambiguous Loss and Emotional Boundary for Mothers of Children With Disabilities

• In Event: 75.060 - Roundtable Session 33
  In Roundtable Session: 75.060-2 - The Critical Roles of Fathers and Mothers: Gendered Perspectives

Abstract

This study sought to strengthen existing research on parenting in children with disabilities. applied the ambiguous loss theory to explore the meanings that mothers give to the process of caregiving, focusing on their emotional boundary and changing sense of selves as parents and individuals. We conducted in-depth interviews with eleven mothers of children with various types and conditions of disabilities, at different points in life in order to take life span perspectives in parenting. Redefining their lives through maintaining their valued identity as a mother and becoming more resilient through learning to live with ambiguity in the face of new and continuous challenges in situations of ambiguous loss were the two key mechanisms of the process.

Authors

• Hye Jun Park, Seoul National University Research Institution of Human Ecology

• Yoon-Joo Lee, Brooklyn College - CUNY

• Susan L. Recchia, Teachers College, Columbia University

• Seung Yeon Lee, Ewha Womans University

• Minsun Shin, Montclair State University

• Jeesun Jung, Ohio University - Athens