Trauma-informed care education for midwives: Does education improve attitudes towards trauma-informed care?

INTRODUCTION

Continuing education is important to improve midwives' attitudes to trauma-informed care in addressing the needs of women during the perinatal period. This study aimed to evaluate if there was a significant difference in attitudes towards trauma-informed care between midwives who participated in a 2-day trauma-informed care education program and those who did not.

METHOD

A static group comparison design was adopted with a convenience sample of midwives to analyse differences in attitudes towards trauma-informed care between midwives who received a 2-day TIC education (n = 19, intervention group) and their peers who did not receive the education (n = 18, comparison group).

RESULTS

The results suggest that midwives who participated in a 2-day trauma-informed care education program had significantly higher scores for positive attitudes towards trauma-informed care compared to those who did not take part in the program and that this effect was sustained at 6 months.

CONCLUSION

To minimise perinatal trauma for mothers and babies, midwives require specific trauma-informed care education. This study proposes that trauma-informed care education is a foundational pathway for implementing a trauma-informed care framework across a maternity service.

A Critical "P" in Patient-Centered Care: Palliative Care for All of Us

Palliative care, an important interdisciplinary care modality, is not just for the terminally ill. The Institute of Medicine calls the improvement of end-of-life care a national priority. Developing a culture of ongoing integration of topics such as palliative care into a patient-focused care curriculum would be a lasting and important contribution from professional development educators. J Contin Educ Nurs. 2016;47(11):487-489.