The purposes of this study were to measure the degree of perceived uncertainty and to identify the rearing attitudes of mothers with chronically ill children, and to examine the relationship between the perceived uncertainty and the rearing attitude of these mothers. The subjects of this study consisted of 133 mothers with chronically ill children, registered at 2 university hospitals in Seoul. Data was collected from April 1 to May 31, 1996. The Parents' Perception of Uncertainty Scale(28-item 4 point scale) and the Maternal Behavior Research Instrument (49-item 5 point scale) were used. Data was analyzed by Cluster analysis, ANOVA MANOVA and t-test. Results of this study are summarized as follows : 1. Mothers perceived their uncertainty to be slightly high (Mn 2.48). The degree of perceived uncertainty by the four components slightly differed unpredictability(2.72), lack in clarity(2.58), vagueness (2.52) and lack of information(2.04) . The degree of perceived uncertainty of mothers with ill children revealed to be influenced significantly by the age of the ill children, duration of illness after the diagnosis, and the experience of hospitalization. 2. Among the rearing attitudes : moderatlely high affective(Mn 3.98) and resrictive(Mn 3.58) attitudes of mothers toward their ill children were identified. Mothers tend to give positive evaluations of their childrens' behaviors (Mn 3.38) and less rejection(Mn 2.81). 3. Mothers' rearing attitude were correlated with the degree of perceived uncertainty in illness ; mothers in the Low Perceived Uncertainty Group (Mn 1.99) revealed the highest affective (Mn 4.08), the lowest resrictive(Mn. 2.72) attitudes and tendency to give positive evaluations of their childrens' behaviors (Mn 3.54) compared to the High Perceived Uncertainty Group(Mn 3.26) and Moderate Perceived Uncertaity Group(Mn 2.57). 4. The degree of perceived uncertainty, the duration of illness after the diagnosis and the experience of hospitalization revealed to be significantly influential to the rearing attitude of mothers with chronically ill children. From the above results, it can be concluded that predicting and controlling mothers' uncertainty are necessary for improved, efficient nursing interventions and normal growth & development of the chronically ill children.
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