Group Clinical Supervision for midwives and burnout : A cluster randomized controlled trial

Background: There are major shortfalls in the midwifery workforce which has been exacerbated by the COVID 19 pandemic. Midwives have high levels of burnout and many, often early career midwives, are planning to leave the profession. There are reports of a poor workplace culture in maternity units, including bullying. Support is essential for the welfare of the workforce to be able to cope with the demands of their jobs. Supportive strategies, such as Clinical Supervision, a recognised approach in healthcare, enable refection in a facilitated, structured way, and can enhance professional standards. The purpose of this research is to study burnout levels in midwives, those exiting their workplace and perceptions of workplace culture in relation to access to, and attendance of, monthly Clinical Supervision.

Methods: This study will be a cluster randomised controlled trial of maternity sites within Sydney and the surrounding districts. Twelve sites will be recruited and half will receive monthly Clinical Supervision for up to two years. Midwives from all sites will be requested to complete 6-monthly surveys comprising validated measurement tools: the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI), the Australian Midwifery Workplace Culture (AMWoC) tool and the Clinical Supervision Evaluation Questionnaire (CSEQ) (the latter for intervention sites only). Primary outcomes are the levels of burnout in midwives (using the CBI). Secondary outcomes will be the quality of the intervention (using the CSEQ), perceptions of workplace culture (using the AMWoC tool) and midwives’ intention to stay in their role/profession, as well as sick leave rates and numbers of exiting staff. We will also determine the dose efective the impact in relation to how many Clinical Supervision sessions the midwives have attended, as well as other supportive workplace strategies such as mentoring/coaching on outcomes.

Discussion: Through attending monthly Clinical Supervision we hypothesise that midwives will report less burnout and more positive perceptions of workplace culture than those in the control sites. The potential implications of which are a productive workforce giving high quality care with the flow-on effect of having physically and psychologically well women and their babies.

Trial registration: The ACTRN Registration number is ACTRN12621000545864p, dated 10/05/2021,

© The Author(s) 2022.

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Funding for this study comes from a competitive National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Investigator grant, 2021. External peer review comprised part of the funding application process. The funder, a government body, had no input into the study concept, design or methodology within the grant application. It will not have any role during its execution, analyses, interpretation of the data, or decision to submit results.