No abstract available.

From of old, labor has been accompanied by pain and much effort has been mode to eliminate or diminish the amounts of pain during labor. Little concern has yet been given to the subjective meaning of pain in labor. Recently, rates of cesarean section in Korea and in some other nations have increased rapidly and some investigators are reporting negative reactions such as anger, disappointment and feeling of loss due to lack of control over labor and its pain. These findings are thought to suggest that control of labor and its pain gives some meaning to the laboring woman. Thus the investigators sought of discover the meaning of pain during labor for Korean women. Specific objectives of this study were to explore the meaning of pain in labor in labor in labor to the mothers, their reactions to the experience of labor and their preference for delivery method. The subjects of this study were 95 mothers who delivered their babies in hospital from September 989 to May 1990 : 45 gave birth by vaginal delivery, and 50 by cesarean section. Data were gathered through direct interviews by the investigators, and questions were focused on five areas i.e. mothers' feelings about delivery and their babies, their feelings about of having more children, the most difficult aspect about this labor and delivery, and what they though the differences were between vaginal delivery and cesarean section. After interview, mothers' answer were summarized, and classified according to the degree of positive or negative attitude. To ascertain the difference in meaning of labor pains and reaction to delivery experience between mothers delivered vaginally and by cesarean section a Median test was done using an SAS. Results were as follows. 1. More mothers who had delivered vaginally realized that they "have became a mother" than those who had a cesarean section(X2=8.409, df=3, p=0.038). 2. Immediate reaction to their delivery experience was more positive for mothers who had a cesarean section. 3. These Korean mothers expressed preference for vaginal delivery. Suggestions for further research on the meaning for mothers of their experience of labor, and on the meaning of pain for mothers who have a cesarean section were made.

A group of studies revealed that family members of the seriously ill patient had some needs during the period of patient's hospitalization. Needs of the seriously-ill patient family could be classified into three aspect, i. e. needs on the prognosis of patient, needs on the well-being of family members themselves and needs on hospital enviroment. Several instrument were developed to measure the needs of the seriously ill patient, but their content tended to overemphasize the aspect of the prognosis of patient. The purpose of this study was to develop a new instrument to measure the needs in the aspect of the seriously ill patient's family themselves in details to increase the cummulative percentage of the scale. Subjects were 134 family members of the seriously-ill patients, who were being cared in ICU of seven university hospitals and data were collected from march 16, 1987 to April 11, 1987. The instrument used in this study was made by the author on the basis of results of literature review. Content valitily of the instrument was tested by a professor majoring in nursing and reliability by calculation of Cronbach's a with data of the, respondents. Data was analyzed as follows, using SAS, computer system. Factor structures of the seriously ill cpatients' family needs were elicited by factor analysis. The progromme was the Principal Component Factor Analysis Method of factoring employing Varimax Orthogonal Rotation. The influences of the demographic variables on the degree of the seriously-ill patients' family need were analyzed by t-test and F-test. Results were as follows. 1. Needs of the seriously-ill patients' family elicited and their cummulative percentage were; Needs to be supported emotionally, 29. 2% Needs to be informed on facilities available, 9.6% Needs to be informed on the patient's prognosis, 7.7%. Needs to be supported spiritually, 5.1%. Needs to be informed on hospital environment, 4.2%. Needs to be helped to spare time, 3.9%. Needs to be informed on their role, 3.5%. Needs to be present near patient, 3. 3%. 2. Educational background was found to influence on some factors. College-graduate group had higher level of needs to be informed on facilities available to be informed on the patient's prognosis, needs to be supported spiritually, needs to be helped to spare time, needs to be informed on their role than' high school graduate group. 3. Among the parents, sons and daughters and the relative groups, the parents of the seriously ill patient had highest level of needs to be present near patient. Suggestions for further studies were as follows. 1. As the instruments used in the previous studies had high cummulative percentages in the aspect of the prognosis of patient and that in this study in the aspect of the prognosis of patient and that in this study in the aspect of the seriously ill patient's family themselves, development of a new instrument which combined the items of both of them is needed.2. A study to clarify the influence of type and number of admission on need to be supported emotionally is needed.