Abstract

Background: To clarify nurses’ awareness of and care for the indulgence and intentional indulgence of mothers who have children hospitalized with chronic diseases.
Method: Between September and November 2014, semi-structured interviews were conducted with nurses who provided written consented. Verbatim transcripts of the audiotaped interviews were made. These transcripts were then encoded, and divided into subcategories and categories.
Results: The data obtained from the interviews were divided into 33 labels, 17 subcategories, 8 categories, and 4 core categories. Nurses regarded indulgence as prioritization of mothers' needs, and intervened for them in consideration of such indulgence’s long-term adverse influence on their children. In addition, nurses considered that intentional indulgence shown by mothers had rational reasons, did not have a long-term adverse influence on children, was benefits for children, and was benefits for mothers, and only watched them closely. The conflicted feelings of nurses regarding intentional indulgence were caused by their professional ideas and prejudice about indulgence. To cope with such feelings, nurses aimed to provide care which did not require intentional indulgence, appropriately assessed pediatric patients, and gave their mothers care-related guidance.
Conclusion: When investigating nurses’ awareness of and care for mothers’ indulgence and intentional indulgence, the long-term influence of these types of indulgence on children’s development was an important factor. The results of the present study suggest the need to conduct studies investigating the long-term influence of mothers’ intentional indulgence on their children’s development.