A phenomenological perspective on parenting experience among African American mothers living with HIV disease

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to examine parenting experience as perceived by HIV-infected African American mothers who are rearing their uninfected preschool-aged children. Parenting experience among African American mothers rearing preschool-aged children was interpreted and analyzed through transcribing, coding, and mapping processes using the Creswell (2009) six step strategy of coding. Data were analyzed using the Colaizzi's seven procedural steps (1978) based on Husserl's philosophy. The complete view of the parenting experience of HIV- infected African American mothers was guided by the theoretical application of Leininger's culture care and Bowen's family systems theories. Family systems and culture care theoretical frameworks provided the foundation of this phenomenological study to explore the parenting experience of the HIV-infected African American mothers who were rearing preschool-aged children. Eight mothers from a voluntary community organization in North Carolina were selected by purposive sampling to share their stories during semi structured interviews. Results of this qualitative analysis were examined using a phenomenological approach of content analysis that took advantage of narrative inquiry and looked for emergent themes. The main thematic results indicated that HIV-infected African American mothers who are rearing their uninfected preschool-aged children encountered stress from providing a wide range of childcare tasks. A major concern among these mothers was that in devoting most of their time to childcare they lacked time to care for their own illness, and that unpredicted hospitalizations separated these mothers from their children. Despite these challenges, these mothers perceived their preschool-aged children as reasons to live. An unexpected finding was that mothers in the study mostly chose to take away privileges such as television time, as well as use spanking to correct unacceptable behavior. No other studies found this specific finding. Results will be used to add to the body of knowledge in existing literature by providing research insights that support the need for further research into parenting experience among HIV-infected African American mothers rearing preschool-aged children.