What is known about midwives' well-being and resilience? An integrative review of the international literature
Journal article
Moran, Lynnelle, Foster, Kim and Bayes, Sara. (2023). What is known about midwives' well-being and resilience? An integrative review of the international literature. Birth. 50(4), pp. 672-688. https://doi.org/10.1111/birt.12756
Authors | Moran, Lynnelle, Foster, Kim and Bayes, Sara |
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Abstract | Background: Internationally, the midwifery workforce is facing a professional crisis due to numerous organizational and individual factors that have led to midwives leaving the profession. These factors include high levels of workplace stress, systemic barriers to providing woman and person-centered care, trauma, and burnout. The COVID-19 pandemic magnified these pre-existing stressors and adversities and has further disrupted midwives' ability to practice within their professional norms. In order to understand how midwives can be better supported, there is a need to understand what contributes to and detracts from their well-being and resilience. Aim: To investigate and synthesize the extant international knowledge on midwives' well-being and resilience in the context of workplace stress and adversity. Method: Integrative review of the literature published in peer-reviewed journals. Results: Thematic analysis of the literature resulted in three core themes: (1) risk factors and adversity; (2) protective factors and resilience; and (3) sustaining factors and well-being in midwifery. Findings from this integrated review highlight that several factors associated with workplace adversity can also be sources of protection depending on their presence or absence. Within the included studies, there exists a broad use of concepts and definitions that are applied to well-being and resilience, resulting in a lack of uniformity and cohesion. Conclusions: In this review, we identified a high level of workplace adversity and the subsequent impacts on midwives' well-being and resilience. A series of protective factors and strategies that can be used to improve the well-being of midwives and support resilience within the profession were also identified; however, further research of the population is required. In addition, the development of cohesive well-being and resilience concepts specific to midwifery is recommended, as is the development and application of uniform terminologies and definitions. |
Keywords | midwifery; psychological well-being; resilience; stressors; well-being |
Year | 2023 |
Journal | Birth |
Journal citation | 50 (4), pp. 672-688 |
Publisher | Wiley Periodicals LLC |
ISSN | 0730-7659 |
Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.1111/birt.12756 |
PubMed ID | 37551623 |
Scopus EID | 2-s2.0-85166954687 |
Web address (URL) | https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/birt.12756 |
Open access | Published as ‘gold’ (paid) open access |
Research or scholarly | Research |
Page range | 672-688 |
Publisher's version | License File Access Level Open |
Output status | Published |
Publication dates | |
Online | 08 Aug 2023 |
Publication process dates | |
Accepted | 20 Jul 2023 |
Deposited | 08 Nov 2023 |
Additional information | © 2023 The Authors. Birth published by Wiley Periodicals LLC. |
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
https://acuresearchbank.acu.edu.au/item/8zy9x/what-is-known-about-midwives-well-being-and-resilience-an-integrative-review-of-the-international-literature
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Publisher's version
OA_Moran_2023_What_is_known_about_midwives_well.pdf | |
License: CC BY 4.0 | |
File access level: Open |
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