Adaptation Process of Korean Elderly Women to Foreign Daughters-in-Law in Multicultural Rural Families: A Grounded Theory Method

Introduction: In South Korea, the number of multicultural families is steadily increasing. The purpose of the study was to examine and identify the process of adaptation of elderly women to foreign daughters-in-law in multicultural families in rural settings. Method: This is a qualitative study and applies a grounded theory method. Data were collected through individual in-depth interviews between February and April 2019, involving 15 elderly women with foreign daughters-in-law, and analyzed employing Corbin and Strauss’s grounded theory. Results: The results are demonstrated through the “Chaotic,” “Resistive,” “Exploratory,” “Transitional,” and “Receptive” periods, based on the flow of time. Discussion: The findings contribute to the practice and intervention of multicultural nursing by examining the adaptation process and providing future direction on the adaptation of elderly women who are part of multicultural families.