Experiences of Institutional Care in University Student Mothers
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24265/Keywords:
institutional care, parental role, student well-being, support networks, hermeneutic phenomenologyAbstract
Background: University students with parental responsibilities constitute an invisibilized group facing structural barriers within an academic context that presents gaps in its support policies. Objective: To understand how university student mothers at the University of Bío-Bío experience institutional care and how this care relates to their motherhood experience. Method: A qualitative approach with a phenomenological-hermeneutic design was used. The purposive sample consisted of seven undergraduate student mothers from the Chillán campus, who participated in semi-structured interviews. The information obtained was examined through thematic analysis with the support of ATLAS.ti software. Results: Experiences of institutional care are configured unevenly, highlighting formal support associated with academic regulations against significant gaps in psychosocial accompaniment. Existing tensions between academic demands and caregiving responsibilities relate to frustration, exhaustion, and difficulties in the educational trajectory. Conclusion: Participants link the conditions of institutional support to their possibilities of sustaining their academic trajectory. It is necessary to strengthen university policies to adapt them to the realities of this group, favoring educational continuity and preventing the creation of new institutional barriers.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Cintya Belén Antrillao González, Constanza Javiera Hinojosa Cortés, Nelson Zicavo Martínez, Jorge Ignacio Prudencio Grave de Peralta
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