First Birth Stories of Student Midwives: Keys to Professional Affective Socialization

The Medical Training Evaluation Questionnaire (MeTrE-Q): a multidimensional self-report instrument for assessing the quality of midwifery students' education

This study aims to understand the factors that can hinder Italian midwifery students' educational process, what messages are given to students during their clinical practice, and how students interact with tutors and other professionals. Seven hundred and eighty Italian students of midwifery were asked to answer an Internet-based questionnaire regarding their own opinions concerning their theoretical-practical formative path. For male Italian students, satisfaction is lower than female students as well as for students from Southern than Northern Italy. Students are dissatisfied with the quality of their academic and practical training, particularly regarding recognising their professional role and their relationship with tutors. Based on these data, it is essential to design a formative path for midwives that considers students' opinions and the positive experiences of other countries.Impact StatementWhat is already known on this subject? Several studies underscore the poor preparation of students for learning in clinical settings. The current reality of the Italian academic path in most universities disregards midwifery students' expectations and formative needs.What do the results of this study add? For male Italian students, satisfaction is lower than for female students and students from Southern than Northern Italy. Students are dissatisfied with the quality of their academic and practical training, particularly regarding recognising their professional role and their relationship with tutors.What are the implications of these findings for clinical practice and/or further research? It is essential to design a formative path for midwives that considers students' opinions and other countries' positive experiences.

Evaluating the effect of an educational intervention on student midwife self-efficacy for their role as physiological childbirth advocates

INTRODUCTION

Midwifery education that strengthens self-efficacy can support student midwives in their role as advocates for a physiological approach to childbirth.

METHODS

To assess the effect of an educational intervention on self-efficacy, a pre- and post-intervention survey was administered to a control group and an intervention group of third year student midwives. The General Self-Efficacy Scale (GSES) was supplemented with midwifery-related self-efficacy questions related to behaviour in home and hospital settings, the communication of evidence, and ability to challenge practice.

RESULTS

Student midwives exposed to midwifery education designed to strengthen self-efficacy demonstrated significantly higher levels of general self-efficacy (p = .001) when contrasted to a control cohort. These students also showed significantly higher levels of self-efficacy in advocating for physiological childbirth (p = .029). There was a non-significant increase in self-efficacy in the hospital setting in the intervention group, a finding that suggests that education may ameliorate the effect of hospital settings on midwifery practice.

DISCUSSION

In spite of the small size of the study population, education that focuses on strengthening student midwife self-efficacy shows promise.

Midwives' experiences of learning and teaching being 'with woman': A descriptive phenomenological study

Being 'with woman' is a fundamental concept of midwifery philosophy. Minimal evidence explicates ways this important construct is learned or taught. This paper reflects one part of a larger study and explored midwives' experiences of learning and teaching related to the phenomenon of being 'with woman'. Using a descriptive phenomenological approach, 31 midwives working in a variety of models in Western Australia were interviewed to explore the phenomenon of being 'with woman'. Rich descriptions of how midwives learned and taught others to be 'with woman' were obtained. Descriptive phenomenology is useful in revealing features of the phenomenon through description of lived experiences of purposively sampled participants. Giorgi's method was used to analyse data from the two main interview questions. The themes for learning to be 'with woman' were observing midwives; inspirational leaders; learning from the women; a variety of experiences enhances learning; and, develops over time. The themes for teaching being 'with woman' were, approaches for teaching; teaching is implicit; reliance on observation, comprehension and assimilation. Insights into the learning and teaching of practices supported by professional philosophy offer educators and leaders new knowledge and ways to enhance the transfer of knowledge and skills of being 'with woman'.

Student Perceptions of Ideal and Actual Midwifery Practice

This research was conducted to document midwifery students' observations of ideal midwifery care in different educational and clinical midwifery settings. A survey questionnaire using the 39 processes of exemplary midwifery process identified by Kennedy in 2000 was sent to a group of newly graduated certified nurse-midwives, all members of the American College of Nurse-Midwives. The questionnaire was constructed to permit the respondent to evaluate "ideal" and "actual" midwifery practices. Significant differences between actual observations and ideal perceptions of midwifery practice were found in two of the four clinical settings (birth centers and homebirth) and one type of education program (BA to BSN to CNM). No difference was found between traditional versus distance learning programs. Of most concern was that half of the respondents perceived a lack of congruity on ideal and actual midwifery practices that supported normal birth. The results of this study represent a "theory-practice" gap and should be considered by educators and preceptors in the development of curriculum and clinical experiences.