Abstract
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Purpose
The role of local children’s centers is becoming more important as after-school care expands to South Korean elementary schools. As elementary school years are the time when children grow into healthy adults. Children in this period must grow with a feeling of happiness. The purpose of this study is to understand and explain the meaning of happiness experiences of elementary school students receiving community child care services, and to expand and apply nursing knowledge to child care at community child care centers through their happiness experiences.
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Methods
This qualitative study was conducted with 21 elementary school students who received program services at local children’s centers for more than 1 year. Participants conducted 1:1 depth interview. The interviews were analyzed by dividing them into themes.
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Results
Finally, five themes and 14 sub-themes were organized. The five themes were derived as “feeling of freedom and joy,” “healthy and pleasant feeling from being cared for,” “feeling smart and competent,” “feeling loved by someone special,” “feeling well-adjusted to school life.” This conclusion means that participants experience autonomy and enjoyment in daycare centers, positive care, strengthen emotional bonds, and help them adapt well to school.
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Conclusion
The participants in this study expressed happiness in various meanings at local children’s centers. This thesis informed that it is important for local children’s centers to prioritize children’s happiness for education and care for children. This paper will contribute to society by presenting a nursing perspective on the development of community children’s centers.
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Key words: Child; Community health services; Giorgi; Happiness; Qualitative research; School-age
INTRODUCTION
As of 2022, there were 4,295 local children’s centers in South Korea, and the number has steadily increased every year. The number of children receiving care in these centers is 106,745 [
1]. The goal of these local children’s centers is to provide a social safety net for children and offer protection, education, wholesome play, and comprehensive welfare services to promote positive school adaptation [
2]. According to the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, more than 80% of the personnel at each local children’s center lack the capacity to meet children's care needs. The children utilizing these centers mainly come from single-parent families, low-income households, dual-income families, and multicultural families. As such, these centers provide learning opportunities, entertainment, and various programs for underserved children in the community [
3]. Local children’s centers are typically open 9–10 hours a day. Most centers operate from 10 AM to 7 PM, with some closing as late as 10 PM when necessary [
4]. This means that children who receive local children’s center services spend a significant amount of time at the centers compared to home.
The reduction in family size and increased participation of married women in working society have highlighted the need for childcare to need for childcare to be a shared social responsibility [
5]. To address this issue, South Korea has been planning to establish a “Comprehensive Care System” since 2018 [
6]. Parents have asked that schools extend care hours and requested that local children’s centers participate more actively in childcare. About 30% of the parents requested extended care hours [
7].
Happiness is an important purpose in all phases of life and is the best choice an individual can make. Human beings achieve happiness and self-actualization through wise and autonomous choices. Children in South Korea, however, have low levels of happiness and satisfaction with life, with this dissatisfaction decreasing even more over time. In fact, the happiness of elementary school students in South Korea is the lowest among Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries [
8]. Studies show that children are happier when parents have warm, positive parenting attitudes and are supportive of their autonomy [
9]. Children who have stable relationships with their parents and receive positive support experience a sense of well-being and can positively design their future. The more social support provided, the higher the child’s sense of happiness [
8]. Unfortunately, children who use local children’s centers due to their caregiver’s circumstances inevitably lose time spent at home with their parents. In the case of children who need to use local children’s centers, a lack of time to talk with their parents at home is inevitable due to the situation of their caregivers, such as their parents’ economic activities, multicultural families, single parents, and lack of time. Children who experience positive support and stable relationship with their parents experience a sense of well-being and are able to design their future in a positive way. The more social support is provided, the higher the child’s sense of happiness [
8].
The elementary school years are crucial for the development of prosocial behavior and social development in children [
10]. These years are a time when prosocial behavior development occurs. It is an important time for a child’s social development [
11]. The development of social-emotional competencies during the elementary years leads to better relationships with peers, higher levels of school life, and positive impacts on daily life [
12]. Stress experienced during this period negatively affects physical and psychological health [
13], with psychosocial stress posing a risk factor for individual psychosis [
14]. Children attending local children’s centers experience more daily life stress than those from general households [
15]. While enhancing academic achievement in elementary school is important, it is equally crucial to focus on emotional and social growth, learning appropriate behavior control, and mastering the art of waiting [
16].
Globally, local children’s centers experience safety challenges faced by teachers and a lack of data on children outside of school. There is also a shortage of educational and recreational facilities for children [
17]. Among elementary school children using local children’s centers, some are in the lower 30% of academic ability and potentially at risk for learning disabilities [
18]. Currently, South Korea operates basic programs, such as protection and education at local children’s centers, as well as specialized programs, such as weekend, holiday, and nighttime care programs [
1]. This trend means a reduction in the time children spend with their parents, implying that the time previously spent with family at home is now spent at local children’s centers.
Studies on the rights of children at local children’s centers [
2], stigma [
4], childcare systems and improvement plans [
6], elementary students’ well-being and prosociality [
10], and the effectiveness of social-emotional learning [
12] are being actively conducted. However, in previous studies, there are many quantitative studies such as the effects of learning and measures to improve the system. Above all, there are few papers on the practical experiences of elementary school students that can be recognized through qualitative research. Research on how elementary school students spend their time after school, what life is like at local children’s centers, and their experience of happiness there is lacking. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the happiness experiences of elementary school students using local children’s centers and the meaning of those experiences. Qualitative studies are appropriate for understanding the nature of these experiences. This study employed the qualitative research method by Giorgi [
19] to understand elementary students’ experience of happiness at local children’s centers.
The purpose of this study was to understand the happiness experiences of children who use local children’s centers and to identify the essence of happiness experiences. And the results of this study will provide a nursing perspective to improve the happiness of children using local children’s centers. This can satisfy the social demand to provide basic data necessary for the operation and education of local children’s centers.
METHODS
Ethical statements: This study was approved by the Institutional Review Board(IRB) of Jeonju University (IRB No.JJIRB-2023-0607). Informed consent was obtained from all participants.
1. Study Design
This study employed the phenomenological method by Giorgi [
19]. The research method by Giorgi [
19] is a descriptive phenomenological study based on Husserl’s transcendental phenomenology. The Giorgi method avoids the researcher’s interpretation as much as possible and adheres to the description of the individual’s subjective experience, making it is suitable for this study with children [
19]. Since the adult researcher may risk interpreting the participating children`s experiences from an adult perspective, the method by Giorgi [
19] is appropriate as it maintains epoché and derives the essence of experiences as they are. The psychological phenomenological experiential research by Giorgi [
19] involves suspending empirical judgments, identifying the structure of individual experiences, freely varying the aspects of individual experiences, grasping the essential structure of experiences, and describing the basic structure. The reporting of this study followed the guidelines outlined in the SRQR (Standards for Reporting Qualitative Research) reporting guidelines.
The research setting included two community children’s centers in South Korea. After informing the centers about the research, consent was obtained from the parents of elementary school students who expressed willingness to participate. Through purposive selection of participants, a total of 21 participants were selected.
Participants in the study were elementary school students who had received services from local children’s centers for more than a year, and they vividly expressed the happiness they experienced at local children’s centers in their own language.
The researcher has 20 years of experience in qualitative research and is a regular member of the Society for Qualitative Research. The researcher reviews qualitative papers every year and participates in qualitative conferences. The researcher has been running a program once a week at the children’s center for 3 years and counseling children at the children’s center. And this researcher has been volunteering and counseling at the local children’s center once a week for 2 years. Therefore, there is a sense of trust and friendliness between the researcher and the participants. In the course of my volunteer work, I became interested in the well-being of children who receive services from the local children’s center.
3. Data Collection
Data collection took place over 3 months, from December 5, 2023, to February 19, 2024. The study participants were recruited with the help of the manager of the local children’s center, and the children’s consent was obtained. Consent was then sought in writing from the parents of the children whose consent was obtained. When the researcher received the consent form for the study from the participating children and their parents, they informed them in advance about the interview questions.
The interview took place in the interview room of the local children’s center. The interviews were one-on-one, and each child was interviewed 2–3 times. Each interview took 30–40 minutes. The gender of the researcher was female, and when interviewing male children, two children were interviewed at the same time instead of a one-on-one interview. The interviews were recorded with the consent of both the participants and their guardians. After the interviews, the recordings were repeatedly listened to and transcribed verbatim. Non-verbal expressions and the characteristics of the participants were also noted. After the final interview, the transcribed content was summarized and reviewed with the participants to ensure the accuracy of the interview content.
The semi-structured questions by Kvale [
20] in 1998 used in this study were as follows. The introductory questions included, “How did you come to use the local children’s center?” with follow-up questions, “What is the most memorable thing about living at the local children’s center?” and “What is life like at the local children’s center?” and specific questions, such as, “What makes you happy about living at the local children’s center?” and “What is happiness for the participants?” and interpretive questions, such as, “How has living at the local children’s center made a difference to you?” Appropriate silence was used during the interview. Finally, responses to key interview questions were analyzed by identifying common semantic units related to participants’ happiness experiences and incorporating the collected data accordingly.
Data analysis followed the analysis procedure by Giorgi [
19]. The recorded and transcribed data were read to produce an outline. The entire content was then divided into meaning units. Common meaning units were identified among the participants and categorized. These common meaning units were re-integrated, summarized into new meaning units, and translated into the researcher’s language. Finally, the structure of the experiences was integrated based on the transformed meaning units. The researcher went through an open-ended and circular thinking process to exclude preconceived notions, whether the child did not over-reflect subjective biases, whether he really grasped what the child was trying to express, and continuously reasoned, reflected, and questioned over time. The researcher had a researcher with 15 years of qualitative research experience to test the interpretation results of this paper from multiple angles so that the interpretation process of the research results could be improved.
The researchers could clarify that meaning units were determined by reading the participants’ statements and segmenting the text where a shift in meaning was detected. The detailed steps of the data analysis by Giorgi [
19] used in this study were:
Step 1: The collected data were read repeatedly, and the participants’ overall perception of their happiness experiences was ascertained.
Step 2: Content changes in the collected data were separated. In this process, “epoché” was used.
Step 3: Phenomenological reduction was used as a process of transforming the unit of meaning into an academic expression in a description of the participants’ experience of happiness.
Step 4: In the final stage, a transformation of the “free variation” was required to find the essence of the participants’ experience of happiness. This was integrated into the structure.
5. Trustworthiness
The evaluation criteria of credibility, dependability, transferability, and conformability of Lincoln and Guba [
21] were employed to enhance the study’s rigor. First to confirm credibility, the words and facial expressions of the participants were presented as quotes. Second, bracketing and the suspension of judgment were used to maintain dependability. And an analytical memo from the researcher was included. Third, data were saturated in the experiences of community child centers until no new data emerged to ensure transferability. Fourth for conformability, the entire research process was made transparent to the participants, and the interpretations were verified with the participants before being used as data.
This researcher has published several phenomenological studies over 20 years and is an active member of academic societies related to qualitative research. She is constantly active in workshops and conferences on qualitative research.
RESULTS
1. Characteristics of the Participants
After recruiting the participants, a total of 21 participated in the study, and none were eliminated. The general characteristics of the participants were 13 males (61.9%) and eight females (38.9%). The participants included two first graders, two second graders, six third graders, three fourth graders, five fifth graders, and three sixth graders. In the local children’s center, there are six children who participated in 1 year, seven children who participated in 3 years, one child who participated in 4 years, and two children who participated in 5 years. The average participation period was 2.3 years. Among the participants, 12 (57.1%) were latchkey children and 4 (42.8%) were from working-class families. There were five single-parent families (23.8%) and 7 (33.3%) were multicultural families. The characteristics of the participants are shown in
Table 1. By analyzing the responses collected through individual in-depth interviews, five themes and 14 sub-themes were identified. The thematic analysis of the happiness experiences of elementary school students who participated in the local children’s centers in Korea follows.
Finally, five themes and 14 sub-themes were derived as a result of the study. The contents of themes and sub-themes are shown in
Table 2.
1) Theme 1: feeling of freedom and joy
The participants felt that the community children’s center made them happy and enjoyed participating in many programs. They promoted their physical and emotional growth in their freedom.
(1) Sub-theme 1: respecting individual freedom rather than imposing discipline
The participants felt happy with the policies of the local children’s centers that gave children freedom rather than forcing regulations.
“There is no homework at the children’s center, so I don’t feel burdened.” (Participant 12)
“I feel like I’m coming to play when I come to the children’s center.” (Participant 17)
“There are many rules at school. There are no such rules here. I come whenever I want, and even if I come late, the teacher doesn’t scold me.” (Participant 19)
(2) Sub-theme 2: participated in fun activities at local children’s center
The participants preferred playing to studying at the children’s center. They engaged in various play activities and found joy in them.
“I am just happy when I play.” (Participant 2)
“I play a lot of soccer. Soccer at the children’s center is fun.” (Participant 6)
“I learned magic. I want to become popular at school by learning magic well.” (Participant 8)
“I like going outside to play jump rope. The teachers come out and watch, too.” (Participant 13)
(3) Sub-theme 3: making a lot of friends
The participants liked playing at the children’s center. They engaged in various activities, planned their future, and found joy in playing and activities.
“I have two friends at school. Here, I have seven friends. So, I like it here better.” (Participant 4)
“School friends go to academies after school. I don’t go to an academy, so I can’t play with them.” (Participant 10)
“I like friends here because we play together every day.” (Participant 12)
2) Theme 2: healthy and pleasant feeling from being cared for
The participants felt that the community children’s center served as the guardian. They hated going home right after school to empty houses. The community children’s center protected the children both physically and mentally by providing meals when they were sick. During those times, the children were happy.
(1) Sub-theme 1: taking care of me when my family were away
The participants could have dinner and snacks at the children’s center during the school term and all meals during vacations. Almost every day, when they returned home, their parents were absent due to work, or if they were home, they did not provide meals.
“When I go home, my mom is not there. She comes home when I’m asleep. I am not scared, but I feel lonely. I don’t like this situation.” (Participant 4)
“I spend most of the day at the center and go home late because no one is at home. I do my homework here... Sometimes the teacher takes me home.” (Participant 9)
(2) Sub-theme 2: a teacher’s care when I’m sick
The participants appreciated the teachers at the center who provided medication when they were sick or applied ointment and took them to the hospital when injured. Teachers at the center also informed the children’s parents about their health condition when they were ill. In those moment, the children were comfortable and happy.
“One day, my younger sibling was sick. They gave medicine here.” (Participant 2)
“I got hurt on the playground. The principal applied ointment and suggested going to the hospital.” (Participant 5)
“I had a fever and felt sick at school. I came here and vomited. The teacher called my dad.” (Participant 12)
(3) Sub-theme 3: enjoyment that delicious food freely
The participants could have dinner and snacks at the children’s center during the school term and all meals during vacations. Most children did not have parents who could provide meals at home, or even if the parents were at home, they provided their children with low-quality meals. The children were happy about eating high-quality and delicious food with their friends at the local children’s center.
“I’m happy to learn cooking from the cooking teacher. I like eating time the most.” (Participant 5)
“I like eating time more than playing time. There is so much delicious food.” (Participant 6)
“There is no food at my house. So, I eat at the community children’s center.” (Participant 10)
3) Theme 3: feeling smart and competent
The participants were happy when they finished their school homework at the daycare center. The participants got good grades on their school exams because they received tutoring on subjects they struggled with at the local children’s center. Participants were happy when they felt a sense of accomplishment both inside and outside the school. And children were happy when they felt confident and their abilities improved. When the participants became leaders of programs at the local children’s center, they were happy to think that they were competent and smart.
(1) Sub-theme 1: helping me with my school assignments and teaching me what I’m lacking
The participants liked the education at the children’s center, which helped reinforce the school curriculum. They were grateful that the teacher taught them subjects they performed poorly in at the children’s center.
“My teacher helped me with my homework. That’s why I got a compliment from my school.” (Participant 9)
“I’m not good at math. That’s why the center’s teacher teaches me. I’m a little better at math now.” (Participant 17)
(2) Sub-theme 2: improvement in school performance
The participants were happy to learn at the local children’s center and get good grades on their school exams because of it.
“I did well on my test at school. I feel good.” (Participant 6)
“If you get good grades, you’re popular.” (Participant 7)
“I got better in math. I did well on my test. I feel happy when I do.” (Participant 15)
(3) Sub-theme 3: feeling a sense of accomplishment through local children’s center programs
The participants liked the programs at the local children’s center. They were happy when they felt a sense of accomplishment as a leader of the program.
“I was the leader when we played volleyball. I was happy that my team won.” (Participant 4)
“I was happy to be the main character when I did magic.” (Participant 8)
“My teacher complimented me when I was drawing. Me and my friend won the award. It felt great.” (Participant 16)
4) Theme 4: feeling loved by someone special
The participants actively asked for help from local children’s centers when faced with bullying, difficulties in adapting to school life, and family problems. The teachers comforted the child, and they were comfortable and happy that the problem seemed to be solved through counseling. The teacher’s praise and encouragement also made the child happy.
(1) Sub-theme 1: consultation and care when I’m in trouble
The participants appreciated the counseling and comfort they received at the local children’s center when faced with difficulties such as school bullying or family conflicts. When receiving counseling, the participants felt secure and comfortable.
“I feel comfortable at the children’s center. No one bothers me here.” (Participant 12)
“I feel secure here at the center.” (Participant 15)
“Sometimes my schoolmates swear at me. I feel very sad. I told my teacher here, and it made me feel less sad.” (Participant 19)
(2) Sub-theme 2: to be praised by my teacher
The participants were happy when the teachers at the local children’s center praised them. They changed their behavior to hear compliments more.
“I get scolded a lot at school, but I'm happy that the teacher gives me a compliment here.” (Participant 2)
“When I come to a daycare center, I feel like I’m coming to play. You’re so nice to me, too.” (Participant 7)
“She always praises me even when I overreact. That’s why I try not to overreact. I want to be a good person.” (Participant 9)
5) Theme 5: feeling well-adjusted to school life
The participants felt that they were adjusting well to school with the help of local children’s centers. Participants basically had a desire to do well in school. Participants experienced unwitting changes in their lifestyle at a local children’s center. Participants had fun making friends at local children’s centers, and they had the rhythm of life and were able to live a regular life at children’s centers.
(1) Sub-theme 1: helping prepare for my school life
The local children’s center helped the children so that they could adapt well at school. At that time, the children were reassured and happy.
“She brought my supplies to school. Thank you, teacher.” (Participant 12)
“I had to take my slippers to school, but my teacher called my mom.” (Participant 17)
(2) Sub-theme 2: make friends and get closer
The participants made friends at the children’s center. They formed friendships during activities, which made the children happy.
“I’m just happy when I play with my friend.” (Participant 1)
“I don’t have any friends at school. I have three friends at the children’s center. So, I feel good.” (Participant 11)
“I have more friends at the children’s center than at school. I like friends.” (Participant 20)
(3) Sub-theme 3: living a regular and restrained life
The participants enjoyed living according to the children’s center’s timetable. Other friends went to private academies, but they preferred studying and playing at the children’s center. They found a rhythm in life from living in the structured environment provided by the children’s center.
“I like it more here than at school. I love the program here. I live here and follow the schedule.” (Participant 4)
“My schoolmates go to private academies after school. I stay at a children’s center because I don’t go to private academies. I like it here. The reason why I like it here is because there is a fixed cooking time, game time, study time, and play time.” (Participant 10)
“I like children’s centers because I play with my friends every day. There’s something to do every hour here.” (Participant 12)
3. General structure description of the happiness experience of South Korean elementary school students participating at local children’s centers
The elementary school students who participated in this study, experienced happiness at the local children’s center when participating in programs. That promoted freedom and physical and emotional growth, feeling cared for at the local children’s centers. Since when participants returned home after school, their parents were often not present, being comforted and cared for by the teachers when sick or sad, the teacher at the local children’s centers comforted the children and helped them receive treatment. Lunch and dinner for their parents to prepare were also made at the local children’s centers. The participants were happy to eat enough delicious food at the local children’s centers. Most of all, they were able to participate in the local children’s centers and finish their school homework. They also prepared the supplies necessary for school life in various ways.
While other children attended private academies, participants had to study at local children’s centers due to financial difficulties. Fortunately, the teachers were good at teaching the children. Thus, when participants did well on school exams and their grades went up, they thought, “I’m competent,” and felt happy. The participants also felt a sense of accomplishment when they became leaders in programs run by the center. Furthermore, attending the local children’s centers and feeling loved by precious people made the children happy. When the participants were tired and sad, the teacher at the local children’s centers consulted, comforted, and encouraged the children. The participants felt happiness when the teacher at the local children’s centers complimented them. Attending the local children’s centers improved the children’s capabilities and enabled them to adapt better to school life. The participants who were ostracized at school or had no friends could make friends at the local children’s centers. They felt happy playing with their friends at the local children’s centers. The local children’s centers also provided routine and structure to the participants’ lives after school, which gave them a feeling of happiness. Overall, participants liked the local children’s centers better than the school.
DISCUSSION
The purpose of this study was to examine the meaning of happiness experience in elementary school students participating in local children’s centers. As a result, five themes and 14 sub-themes were identified.
The first theme was “feeling of freedom and joy” The participants were not burdened by their disadvantaged circumstances. Rather, they found joy in living with their friends at the children’s center. The participants were found to feel happy in their sense of freedom. They cited the lack of pressure to participate in the program as a reason for experiencing happiness at the local children’s centers.
Children experience high happiness when parents allow them autonomy [
9]. At the same time, it is important to protect children to ensure their safety in play [
7]. Therefore, local child centers should encourage children to engage in autonomous yet safe activities. What activities can increase children’s autonomy must be addressed as a major topic in future research.
In modern times, with the ubiquity of smartphones, children’s opportunities for physical activity are decreasing as play using social media increases [
11]. However, participation in community activities has a positive impact on children’s physical health and life, as well as children’s growth related to social and psychological factors [
22]. Therefore, local children’s centers should propose new activities for children that promote autonomy while increasing their physical activity. State agencies that make policies must continue to provide interest and support for activities that can help children’s physical and mental growth.
The second theme was “healthy and pleasant feeling from being cared for” The participants were happy when they were at the local children’s center, where they felt protected, were treated or helped for sickness, and were provided with nutritionally balanced meals. In this result, it is emphasized that communities and child-related institutions must provide support and efforts to supply children with nutritionally balanced meals.
The relationship between community participation and multidimensional child growth is important when designing intervention programs. For example, to address childhood malnutrition and obesity, local children’s centers should provide nutritional support to help children grow [
23]. Furthermore, personalized behavioral interventions are needed for children in community children’s centers, that are tailored to each child’s diet, physical activity, sleep, media use, and participatory parenting [
22]. Ultimately, local children’s centers should promote children’s well-being by carefully selecting the nutritional status of meals and snacks, educating the children on healthy eating habits. They also need to connect with institutions that can provide health counseling to children from time to time.
The third theme was “feeling smart and competent.” The participants completed homework at the local children’s center and gained confidence by relearning the subjects they struggled with at school. Children felt a sense of accomplishment and happiness when they scored well on school tests because of this academic support from the children’s center. Prior studies have shown that compared to general children, children who used local children’s centers have lower vocabulary development and expressive vocabulary achievement [
24], as well as difficulties with reading comprehension [
18]. Children receiving services from local children’s centers show delays in the development of receptive vocabulary and expressive vocabulary compared to children from ordinary families, and in this case, many children are from multicultural families [
24]. However, in this study, despite the inclusion of children from multicultural families, they had positive experiences in terms of educational effects.
The participants felt a sense of accomplishment in school life and were adapting well. Nonetheless, this study still found that children who use the local children’s center need a variety of support to reduce stress in school life and strengthen their adaptability. Refer to the relationship between stress and health in children’s daily lives [
13] and research on improving academic achievement and resilience through social and emotional learning [
15].
The fourth theme was “feeling loved by someone special.” Some participants were bullied at school and had difficulty making friends. But they felt comfort and great happiness at the local children’s centers when the teachers comforted, treated, and counseled them when they were sad or physically struggling. The participants also made many friends at the local children's centers. By experiencing and controlling stress and tension, children can develop resilience and, as a result, achieve psychological stability [
25]. Therefore, to improve a child's sense of well-being, teachers must provide human resources and social support, that aide in the child’s psychological recovery. If children have difficulty making friends in the future, they should study in depth what the difficulties are. And it is also necessary to further investigate whether children are bullied at local children’s center.
The fifth theme was the “feeling well-adjusted to school life.” The participants trusted the local children’s centers to help them prepare for school. By participating in the center’s programs, they were able to live a regular lifestyle. So, the participants thought they could adapt well to school life. School adaptation allows children to interact positively with the school environment by improving their relationships with friends and teachers and gaining confidence through active learning activities [
26]. Prosocial behavior in primary school influences subjective well-being, which, in turn, increases subjective well-being in school [
10]. Ultimately, activities at the local children’s center help children adjust to school. The fifth theme, which is the result of this study, supports this. In this paper, it was not possible to find out what regular lives children should do to adapt to school and what learning activities are necessary. Future research should reinforce this area.
Children of single-parent, working parents, and multicultural families participated in this study. Participants wanted to meet the unfulfilled parts of care at the community children’s center through education, counseling, and physical care. The participants wanted a loving home. For children with family problems, local children’s centers should provide ongoing emotional counseling and support services. Local children’s center was useful for children to adapt well to school life, to build good ties with their families, and to receive counseling and help in times of need. In this study, only the meaning of how children feel happy using local children’s center was investigated.
This study could not find out what kind of inconvenience children experience, what education they want, and what they need. And since it was only targeting one area, there is a limit to the scalability and application of the study. However, finding the meaning of happiness in elementary school students’ experience at the local children’s center is also to prepare a nursing perspective for social contribution to children’s growth and development.
CONCLUSION
In this study, the participants expressed various experiences of happiness at the local children’s centers. As a result of analyzing the meaning of happiness, participants were found to feel happy when they had individual freedom, engaged in fun activities, and made many friends at local children’s centers. They were also happy when they felt healthy because the children’s center took good care of them and solved problems. Participants were found to feel a sense of accomplishment when they helped with school tasks at local children’s centers, when teachers helped them with school work, when they improved their learning ability, and when they improved interpersonal relationships. Participants were happy when they felt that they had adapted well to school by living a regular and structured life at local children’s centers.
At the local children’s center, children viewed their circumstances positively and were improving their capabilities. This study will serve as basic data for implementing various programs and care methods for elementary school students at local children’s centers. The results of this study have limitations in that they were obtained from the special environment of one children’s center in one region of South Korea. In order to increase the happiness of children in local children’s centers, legislation related to child care should be prepared, and interdisciplinary collaboration related to children’s education, programs, and care is continuously needed.
ARTICLE INFORMATION
Table 1.General characteristics of the participants (N=21)
|
No. |
Sex |
Primary-school grade |
Center-durable years |
Latchkey parent |
Single-parents |
Multicultural family |
|
1 |
M |
1 |
1 |
O |
X |
O |
|
2 |
M |
1 |
1 |
X |
X |
X |
|
3 |
F |
2 |
1 |
O |
X |
X |
|
4 |
M |
2 |
2 |
X |
X |
X |
|
5 |
F |
3 |
2 |
O |
O |
O |
|
6 |
M |
3 |
1 |
O |
X |
X |
|
7 |
M |
3 |
2 |
X |
X |
O |
|
8 |
F |
3 |
1 |
O |
O |
X |
|
9 |
M |
3 |
2 |
O |
X |
X |
|
10 |
M |
3 |
3 |
O |
X |
X |
|
11 |
M |
4 |
3 |
O |
X |
O |
|
12 |
F |
4 |
2 |
X |
X |
X |
|
13 |
F |
4 |
1 |
X |
X |
X |
|
14 |
F |
5 |
3 |
O |
O |
X |
|
15 |
M |
5 |
2 |
X |
O |
O |
|
16 |
F |
5 |
2 |
O |
O |
X |
|
17 |
M |
5 |
3 |
O |
X |
O |
|
18 |
M |
5 |
3 |
O |
X |
O |
|
19 |
M |
6 |
4 |
X |
X |
X |
|
20 |
M |
6 |
5 |
X |
X |
X |
|
21 |
F |
6 |
5 |
X |
X |
X |
Table 2.Analysis of the meaning of happiness in South-Korean elementary school students receiving local children’s center service
|
Clusters |
Sub-clusters |
|
Feeling of freedom and joy |
Respecting individual freedom rather than imposing discipline |
|
Participated in fun activities at local children’s center |
|
Making a lot of friends |
|
Healthy and pleasant feeling from being cared for |
Taking care of me when my family was away |
|
A teacher’s care when I’m sick |
|
Enjoyment that delicious food freely |
|
Feeling smart and competent |
Helping me with my school assignments and teaching me what I’m lacking |
|
Improvement in school performance |
|
Feeling a sense of accomplishment through local children’s center programs |
|
Feeling loved by someone special |
Consultation and care when I'm in trouble |
|
To be praised by my teacher |
|
Feeling well-adjusted to school life |
Helping prepare for my school life |
|
Make friends and get closer |
|
Living a regular and restrained life |
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