| Abstract: | The findings of Niwa/Tanaka's studies on mothers' adaptation process to Down Syndrome infants through prospective and long-term intervention were reeaxmined through mothers' retrospective accounts of their past experiences. Fifteen mothers volunteered to participate in clinical interviews prepared for this purpose. The following results were obtained from the interviews: (1) The adaptation of mothers of Down Syndrome children involved a process enduring far beyond the initial shock, so that long-term longitudinal support and intervention, both developmental and psychotherapeutic, were necessary; (2) The subjects experienced intense psychological shock twice before their children reached school age, as we had predicted through our clinical experiences. An adaptation process consisting of five stages was observed; (3) Although the maternal affects experienced by the Japanese mothers in their process of adaptation generally looked similar to those of American and British mothers, some affective reactions were discovered that seemed to reflect existing Japanese social conditions and cultural peculiarities by which these mothers were deeply influenced; (4) A tentative model for intervention to support mothers' adaptatipn process is proposed based on the findings of the present study. |
