An Analysis of Nursing Research on Child Rearing in Korea.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to analyze papers on child rearing in Korea and to suggest future research and nursing practice directions for child rearing. Methods: An on-line search via 5 web sites yielded 201 research papers. The analysis of key concepts was based on the attributes of parenting and type of knowledge held by the parents. Results: The research papers found in the search were 27.3% experimental and 72.7% non-experimental. Among the participants, 77.0% of parents raising the child were mothers and the children were mostly young children under the age of one year. Types of knowledge related to child rearing varied widely, but explanatory knowledge (55.2%) was the most common, followed by prescriptive knowledge (30.0%) and descriptive knowledge (14.8%). For attributes of parenting, reaction to parenting (49.9%) followed by parenting behavior/practice (43.1%) was most common. Conclusion: Findings of this study indicate that further research is necessary regarding fathers and surrogate caregivers and on prescriptive knowledge for health promotion of children at different developmental stages. Also the results suggest a need for research toward developing child care policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]