Midwifery Lecturers' views of shortened midwifery programmes in the UK

An online questionnaire survey of experienced UK lecturers was conducted to gauge their views on the 18 month midwifery programme. 62 anonymous responses were received and the findings were that applicants to the course were generally committed to the programme but that their writing and numerical skills were not as might be expected, they were less able than hoped to challenge the status quo and to undertake the decision-making and client-choice aspects of the role

Coping, Help and Coherence: a non-dichotomous theory for childbirth

This paper follows a previous one and proposes a new theory for childbirth. It uses Aaron Antonovsky's theory of a Sense of Coherence and Ernestine Wiedenbach's Need for Help Theory to explain how women and their midwives cope and care during labour and birth. It is woman-focussed but includes the midwife's ability to recognise if and when a woman needs help and to be able to offer that help. THe woman must at all times be free to validate the help that she may need

An evaluation of the midwifery Pre-Qualifying Skills Passport in Wales

This paper reports on a survey of users of a Pre-Qualifying Skills Passport for Student Midwives in Wales. It provides evidence from 167 users of the Passport. The respondents included students, mentors, teachers, managers and newly qualified midwives. The Passport was generally found to be of help in relation to knowledge and skill acquisition. The findings may inform current and future development of Midwifery Education Standards