Maternal Task Adaptation of Undergraduate Students

Abstract

This qualitative research aimed to study the maternal task adaptation of undergraduate students and their social supports. The informants consisted of 14 undergraduate students aged 18–24 years who delivered at one of the hospital in Chon Buri Province, together with their supporters. The research instruments included the researcher, the college mother demographic record form, the interview guide for college mother, the interview guide for supporter, and the field note. An in-depth interview and observation were performed to collect data from October to December, 2019. Data were analyzed by content analysis and thematic analysis.

The research results revealed that the maternal task adaptation of undergraduate students and their social supports were consisted of 3 themes: 1) the college mother’s perceptions toward pregnancy and giving birth:- at the initial period, they were sad and disappointment, at the following period, they were anxiety and confuse, after that, they thought they might be patient for the surroundings and their own emotions, 2) the adaptation for living, comprised the study dimension, the mothercraft dimension, and the socio-economic dimension, and 3) the social supports, the most important is the college mother’s parents who provided acceptance and encouragement, took care of daily activities and expenses, these help college mothers to be able to adapt their maternal tasks.

This research suggests that educational executives should apply these research results as a guideline for setting a supporting system to remain the college mothers in the educational system.