For past millennia, midwives have served women in childbirth. In premodern times, midwives were usually the only birth attendants. With the Industrial Revolution and the arrival of modernism, male physicians either replaced midwives or superceded them in the modernist medical hierarchy, leaving them with plenty of women to attend but with relatively little autonomy. As the new millennium dawns ...

BACKGROUND The continuous rise in caesarean rates across most European countries raises multiple concerns. One factor in this development might be the type of care women receive during childbirth. 'Supportive care during labour' by midwives could be an important factor for reducing fear, tension and pain and decreasing caesarean rates. The presence and availability of midwives to support a woma...

INTRODUCTION Rising health care costs and the need to consolidate expertise in tertiary services have led to the centralisation of services. In the UK, the result has been that many rural maternity units have become midwife-led. A key consideration is that midwives have the skills to competently and confidently provide maternity services in rural areas, which may be geographically isolated and ...

BACKGROUND Intimate partner violence (IPV) during pregnancy may jeopardize maternal and fetal health (IJFWM 49:159-164, 2004; IJGO 133:269-276, 2016). In recognition of the significant public health impact of IPV, the Norwegian Directorate of Health issued new guidelines in 2014, which recommend that health professionals routinely ask all women in antenatal care about their exposure to violence...

OBJECTIVES to compare and contrast how midwives working in either hospital- or community-based settings address domestic violence by evaluating their views on: prevalence of domestic violence; their role in addressing domestic violence; the acceptability of routine enquiry; and barriers encountered in asking clients questions about violence and abuse in pregnancy. DESIGN a postal survey quest...

Educating midwives to provide nutrition advice is essential. Limited research focuses on midwives' nutrition education. This paper explores self-reported nutrition education received by Australian midwives before and after registration. It draws on quantitative and qualitative data from a larger online survey conducted with the members of the Australian College of Midwives (response rate = 6.9%...

Midwives are responsible for the well-being of women and babies during labor and birth. Learning midwifery is complex and challenging, and how students are welcomed into the labor wards affects learning. This study aimed to identify and explain the conditions that affected midwifery students’ learning in labor wards and their consequences. We used classical grounded theory to analyze longitudin...

OBJECTIVE in the UK, midwives are facing a policy-drive to include men in antenatal care, and men will soon receive paternity leave to enable their involvement. As a result, more men will be able to attend screening, support women and participate in decision-making. We therefore conducted a timely exploration of what being involved means for men and what they want from antenatal screening and m...