장기실종아동 부모의 경험에 대한 현상학적 연구

A Phenomenological Study on the Experience of Parents of Long-term Missing Children

The aim of this research is to study the psychological and emotional pain of missing children’s parents and their experiences of suffering. From this, I expect to propose a supportive program to aid in their recovery. Six parents of long-term missing children joined this research and phenomenological methodology was applied to interpret the results. Data were collected by in-depth interview and various written records, and they were analyzed using Van-Manen’s methodology. I constructed 7 categories after analyzing and categorizing the line-by-line units of the data. Missing children’s parents have suffered from severe emotional distress, social isolation, and family disorganization since their child went missing. However, they selected strategies to make positive changes in their lives as the years went by. They had a strong belief that they would be reunited with their missing child someday. They tried to be good people so as to be reunited with their missing child and sublimated their grief and guilty conscience in noble humanity. Moreover, they did their best to find other missing children in addition to their own child. In this study, practical suggestions are made on the basis of these results. It is necessary to provide specific counseling intervention to address the negative emotions experienced by missing children’s parents. It is also necessary to provide case management programs, financial support, and family healing programs for the families of missing children.