A public e-survey to explore community understanding of the role of the midwife in Australia

Journal article


McKellar, Lois, Brown, Angela and Adelson, Pamela. (2019). A public e-survey to explore community understanding of the role of the midwife in Australia. European Journal of Midwifery. 3(November), pp. 1-9. https://doi.org/10.18332/ejm/114226
AuthorsMcKellar, Lois, Brown, Angela and Adelson, Pamela
Abstract

Introduction: There is compelling evidence that when a woman sees the same midwife there are better outcomes. Yet in Australia, access to midwifery continuity of care remains limited. There are a number of reasons for this but one barrier appears to be a lack of public understanding regarding the role of the midwife. This study undertook an e-survey to explore Australian public perceptions of the role of the midwife.

Methods: A public opinion sample e-survey, using an exploratory design, a Likert scale and open-ended questions, was distributed through social media over six weeks. The survey was open to Australian residents and was completed by 1657 participants. Of these, 96.9% identified as female and 82.1% of participants had children.

Results: Nearly half of the participants believed that a woman must see a doctor during pregnancy and after birth, compared to 21.9% during birth. Many participants described midwives as caring and supportive but there was a lack of understanding about their level of skill and expertise. A dominant theme was the alignment of medical care with safety and the perception that medical practitioners reduce risk. These misperceptions may impact on women making an informed choice regarding midwifery model of care in Australia.

Conclusions: There is an underlying public narrative whereby the public primarily associate midwives with birth and perceive them as assistants rather than lead care providers. The study findings informed a public awareness campaign in South Australia conducted to educate the public’s understanding of the role of the midwife.

Keywordsmidwifery; midwife; public awareness; continuity of care; model of care
Year01 Jan 2019
JournalEuropean Journal of Midwifery
Journal citation3 (November), pp. 1-9
PublisherEuropean Publishing
ISSN2585-2906
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.18332/ejm/114226
Web address (URL)https://www.europeanjournalofmidwifery.eu/A-public-e-survey-to-explore-community-understanding-of-the-role-of-the-midwife-in,114226,0,2.html
Open accessOpen access
Research or scholarlyResearch
Page range1-9
Publisher's version
License
File Access Level
Open
Output statusPublished
Publication dates
PrintNov 2019
Publication process dates
Accepted14 Nov 2019
Deposited18 Oct 2024
Additional information

© 2019 McKellar L.

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 4.0 International License. (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0)

Place of publicationGreece
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