Dutch midwives' views on and experiences with woman-centred care — A Q-methodology study. Issue 6 (December 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Fontein-Kuipers, Yvonne; de Groot, Rosa; van Beeck, Elise; van Hooft, Susanne; van Staa, AnneLoes
• Is Part Of: Women and birth. Volume 32:Issue 6(2019)
• Page Start: e567
• Page End: e575
• Publication Date: 2019-12
• Subjects: Midwifery -- Woman-centred care -- Q-methodology -- Humane -- Job-crafting; Midwives -- Periodicals; Pregnancy -- Periodicals; Midwifery -- Periodicals; Pregnancy -- Periodicals; 618.2
• DOI: 10.1016/j.wombi.2019.01.003
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1871-5192

Abstract

Abstract: Background: Woman-centred care is a philosophy for midwifery care management of the childbearing woman. There is no mutually recognised internalised way in midwifery to provide woman-centred care. Objective: To reveal midwives' distinct perspectives about woman-centred care. Methods: A Q-methodology study amongst 48 Dutch community-based midwives who rank-ordered 39 statements on woman-centred care, followed by semi-structured interviews to motivate their ranking. By-person factor analysis was used to derive latent views, representing midwives (factors) with similar attitudes towards woman-centred care. The qualitative data was used to aid interpretation of the factors. Results: Four distinct factors emerged: (1) the humane midwife, containing two twinning factors: (1+) The philosophical midwife, who is the woman's companion during childbearing in being an authentic individual human being; (1−) the human-rights midwife, who is the woman's advocate for achieving autonomy and self-determination regarding care during the childbearing period. (2) The quality-of-care midwife, who regards good perinatal health outcomes, responsive care and positive maternal experiences as benchmarks for the quality of woman-centred care. (3) The job-crafting midwife, who focuses on self-organisation while seeking balance between the childbearing woman, herself as a professional and an individual and as a colleague. Conclusion/Implications: Each factor represented specific perspectives feeding into woman-centred practice. Although the humane midwife seems to represent the dominant and preferable perspective of woman-centred care, awareness and exploration of and reflection on the thoughts patterns represented by the four different perspectives, should be considered in education and professional development of (student)midwives of be(com)ing a woman-centred midwife.