This e-magazine is a product of the International Midwifery Research and Education for Families in vulnerable circumstances (IMREF) network. This network consists of midwives, student midwives, teachers, and researchers. Together, they share knowledge, experiences, tools, and their networks with the …

Practice development (PD) is ultimately about developing person-centred cultures that are also experienced as safe and effective by its beneficiaries – those experiencing and those providing care. This chapter considers how positioning leadership as an explicit relationship process in PD is needed to …

Introduction: Midwifery education that strengthens self-efficacy can support student midwives in their role as advocates for a physiological approach to childbirth. Methods: To assess the effect of an educational intervention on self-efficacy, a pre- and post-intervention survey was administered to …

Background: Despite evidence supporting the safety of vaginal birth after caesarean section (VBAC), rates are low in many countries. Methods: OptiBIRTH investigated the effects of a woman-centred intervention designed to increase VBAC rates through an unblinded cluster randomised trial in 15 maternity …

Aim: Midwives are expected to identify and help resolve ethics problems that arise in practice, skills that are presumed to be taught in midwifery educational programs. In this study, we explore how midwives recognize ethical dilemmas in clinical practice and examine the sources of their ethics education. Methods: …

Women want positive birth experiences with high quality maternity care that is neither too much, too soon, nor too little, too late. Research confirms the effectiveness of midwifery care, and the midwifery approach to birth as physiologic may counter the upward trend of the unnecessary medicalization …

Background: The dynamics of maternal and newborn care challenge midwifery education programs to keep up-to-date. To prepare for their professional role in a changing world, role models are important agents for student learning. Objective: To explore the ways in which Dutch and Icelandic midwifery …

Background Woman-centred care is a philosophy for midwifery care management of the childbearing woman. There is no mutually recognised internalised way in midwifery to provide woman-centred care. Objective To reveal midwives’ distinct perspectives about woman-centred care. Methods A Q-methodology …

Background: In order to internalize the midwifery philosophy of care and to learn how to advocate for physiological childbirth, student midwives in the Netherlands need learning experiences that expose them to physiological childbirth practices. Increased hospital births, wide variation in non-urgent …