Yvonne J. Kuipers , Valerie Bosmans , Ellen Thaels , Vanessa De Bock
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background/Problem
To integrate midwife-led care in Belgian maternity services, understanding whether midwives are primed of executing the change is needed.
Aim
To explore Belgian midwives’ readiness for midwife-led care and understand the underlying processes.
Methods
A mixed-methods sequential study: 1) A survey including 414 practising midwives and 2) individual interviews with 12 (student) midwives. General linear model analysis was used to examine the trend between knowledge, self-efficacy and performance mean scores - indicators of midwife-led care readiness - proposed in a 27-item questionnaire. The Readiness Assessment Framework served as a template for qualitative thematic analysis.
Findings
Template analysis illustrated the underlying mechanisms of midwifery-led care readiness: Governmental and institutional steering and rule-making functions, regulation and reimbursement, awareness of midwife-led care among stakeholders, capacity to extend primary care postpartum services to antenatal and intrapartum care and healthcare professionals’ lack of awareness of available data of women’s experiences and midwife-led care efficacy in Belgium. These qualitative findings contribute to the understanding of the significant trend with decreasing function for knowledge, self-efficacy and performance mean scores of 25 midwife-led care readiness indicators, and the two non-significant indicators referring to a physiological postpartum period.
Discussion/Conclusion
In determining midwife readiness for midwife-led care, we observed adequate knowledge mean scores, associated with low self-efficacy and even lower midwife-led care performance mean scores. Our findings suggest limited readiness for MLC in antenatal and intrapartum care. Belgian midwives are the domain experts of postpartum services but face challenges in extending midwife-led care to antenatal and intrapartum services.
期刊介绍:
Women and Birth is the official journal of the Australian College of Midwives (ACM). It is a midwifery journal that publishes on all matters that affect women and birth, from pre-conceptual counselling, through pregnancy, birth, and the first six weeks postnatal. All papers accepted will draw from and contribute to the relevant contemporary research, policy and/or theoretical literature. We seek research papers, quality assurances papers (with ethical approval) discussion papers, clinical practice papers, case studies and original literature reviews.
Our women-centred focus is inclusive of the family, fetus and newborn, both well and sick, and covers both healthy and complex pregnancies and births. The journal seeks papers that take a woman-centred focus on maternity services, epidemiology, primary health care, reproductive psycho/physiology, midwifery practice, theory, research, education, management and leadership. We also seek relevant papers on maternal mental health and neonatal well-being, natural and complementary therapies, local, national and international policy, management, politics, economics and societal and cultural issues as they affect childbearing women and their families. Topics may include, where appropriate, neonatal care, child and family health, women’s health, related to pregnancy, birth and the postpartum, including lactation. Interprofessional papers relevant to midwifery are welcome. Articles are double blind peer-reviewed, primarily by experts in the field of the submitted work.