BACKGROUND: Educational strategies for preventive screening and effective interventions in midwives are needed to improve clinical practice and outcomes for abused women and their families. This scoping review aimed to describe available educational training programs on intimate partner violence (IPV) in pregnancy for midwives/student midwives.
METHODS: A scoping review of the literature, which was published in English from January 2010 to March 2023, in PUBMED, EBSCO, and CINAHAL databases, was applied. The following keywords were used in the search: \'evaluation\', \'educational training\', \'course\', \'midwives\', \'student midwife\', \'intimate partner violence\', \'pregnancy\', combined with AND and OR Boolean operators. The included studies focused on training programs/courses for midwives/student midwives regarding intimate partner violence.
RESULTS: A total of 9 studies were eligible for inclusion, describing six programs for midwives and 3 for student midwives. Educational interventions varied in length (e.g. a few hours to weeks) and educational approaches such as multidisciplinary sessions, lectures, theory, role-playing, practice in screening, group activities, watching videos, and case reports discussion. The programs had similar content, including raising awareness of violence, defining it, discussing gender roles, the impact of IPV on women\'s health, referral agencies, and the laws regarding violence in each country.
CONCLUSIONS: This scoping review highlighted a lack of educational programs on intimate partner violence during pregnancy, suggesting that new programs need to be developed based on contemporary clinical practices and recommendations for midwifery education.

BACKGROUND: A shortage of UK midwives has put pressure on clinical placements and supervision of student midwives. Alternative placement solutions are needed to provide students with meaningful learning experiences. One such learning experience was a placement undertaken by student midwives who attended a program teaching English to speakers of other languages (ESOL). This study evaluated the impact of the placement on student midwife learning and experiences of the ESOL participants.
METHODS: The 2022 study employed a qualitative design using Kolb\'s model of experiential learning as a framework. Ten student midwives placed with the ESOL program and three women enrolled in the program participated. Data were collected via online focus groups with the student midwives and a face-to-face focus group with the women. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis and Kolb\'s model of experiential learning.
RESULTS: Four themes were constructed: \'Putting the scripts aside: expectations versus the reality of being an educator\', \'Adapting and personalizing teaching\', \'We are learning too: an environment for mutual learning\', and \'Taking our learning forwards\'. Students faced barriers during their placement and had to adapt their teaching accordingly. They gained crucial knowledge of the challenges faced by women who speak other languages. The women valued the students\' input and together they forged a reciprocal learning environment.
CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates how placing student midwives in a unique non-maternity setting has benefits for student learning which are transferrable to future practice. Importantly, it confirms that quality of learning during a novel placement is not compromised for students or participants.

OBJECTIVE: To synthesize research investigating suicide, suicide attempts, self-harm and suicide ideation in nursing and midwifery students, a group of interest due to high rates of suicide among qualified nurses. Specific areas of interest for this review included prevalence, factors which may contribute to or mitigate risk and suicide prevention interventions.
METHODS: A systematic review was conducted, and Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines were followed.
METHODS: Three electronic databases were searched, and additional articles identified using hand-searching. Studies were included if they examined suicide, suicide attempts, self-harm or suicide ideation in nursing or midwifery students.
METHODS: Studies were deduplicated and assessed for inclusion. Data from included studies were extracted, quality of studies assessed and data synthesized, informed by study focus, design and assessed quality.
RESULTS: About 46 studies of largely moderate to low quality were identified. A high-quality study demonstrated increased risk of suicide in Swedish female nursing students, and increased risk of self-harm in nursing students of both sexes. Prevalence of suicide ideation did not appear to differ across course year, or between nursing students and students on other programmes. Psychiatric conditions, particularly depression, were associated with suicide ideation. Three studies related to suicide prevention interventions were identified. Integration of wellness initiatives into the curriculum and peer support were preferred interventions among nursing students and teaching staff.
CONCLUSIONS: To understand the extent of suicide and self-harm among nursing and midwifery students there is a need for further epidemiological research stratified by programme of study. To develop prevention interventions and initiatives for nursing students, high-quality longitudinal studies should examine characteristics associated with suicide and self-harm.
CONCLUSIONS: Current findings suggest interventions could include support for students experiencing mental health difficulties, foster peer support, and help develop wellness. No patient or public contribution.

BACKGROUND: The construction and performance of professional identity is significant to broader socio-cultural understandings of who \'professionals\' are and what they do. Importantly, it is also implicated in the development and enactment of policy, regulation, education, and professional practice. Professional identity is linked to self-esteem, self-efficacy, professional value, confidence and success. The salience of this in relation to midwifery practice is highly significant; aspects of autonomy, confidence, competence, responsibility, and accountability are all implicated in the provision of safe and effective care.
OBJECTIVE: To explore how student midwives are constructed in the discourses of policy, professionalism, and learning, to provide new perspectives to inform, policy, education, and practice.
METHODS: An adapted critical discourse analysis of the United Kingdom (UK) Nursing and Midwifery Council\'s 2009 Standards for pre-registration midwifery education, using a three-step process: exploring discourse at the level of (1) discursive practice (2) linguistic features of the text, and (3) social practice.
UNASSIGNED: The discourses that relate to midwifery education and practice emerge within socio-political and historical contexts. Constructions of identity are articulated through a rule-bound framework which includes competence, confidence and \'good health and good character\'. There is a requirement for midwives to \'be\' responsible, accountable, autonomous, professional, competent, and confident. Regulatory power is reinforced through medico-legal discourses, with the status of midwifery discursively presented as inferior to medicine.
CONCLUSIONS: According to the Standards, midwives must be a lot of things in their role and function. The Standards\' discourses are authoritative, legislative and controlling, creating an ideology about professional status and agency which constructs an \'imaginary autonomy\'; becoming a midwife is more automatic (with the perception of control), than agentic. All of which has significance for the social practice of midwifery.
CONCLUSIONS: \'How are midwives made? Discursive constructions of student midwives\' professional identities: a discourse analysis.

BACKGROUND: An ethnically diverse workforce has been identified as a key component of safe, compassionate maternity care, and yet midwifery remains a predominantly White profession across the Global North. Understanding the experiences of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic midwifery students is key to addressing this disparity.
OBJECTIVE: To capture the university and placement experiences of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic midwifery students in a culturally White environment.
METHODS: A qualitative approach underpinned by a feminist, inductive, interpretivist paradigm informed a study undertaken with student midwives studying at three separate universities in South East England. Five virtual focus groups and two semi-structured interviews were conducted with thirteen current student midwives and one preceptee (recently graduated) midwife self-identifying as Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic. Analysis was inductive, data-driven and thematic. Standards for Reporting Qualitative Research recommendations have been used to formulate this report.
RESULTS: Although some participants reported positive experiences and felt well-supported, an overarching narrative emerged of midwifery as an exclusive and White profession. Institutionalised Whiteness was experienced in university, in placement and within individual student cohorts. Four themes were identified: \'being an outsider\', \'prejudice, discrimination and racism\', \'nowhere to turn\' and \'positive forces\'.
CONCLUSIONS: Racist and discriminatory beliefs and practices in some midwifery education and placement settings negatively impact student experience and are likely to result in poorer care being provided to Global Ethnic Majority women and families. An unwillingness among some White educators and students to recognise the presence and impact of inequitable and racist environments, and a lack of clear, acceptable, and effective pathways for students to use to raise and discuss concerns, makes it difficult to challenge and change this injustice.

OBJECTIVE: The study aimed to gain a deeper understanding of women\'s experience of continuity of care by student midwives during the childbearing process.
METHODS: A qualitative approach was the design used in this study. In-depth interviews were conducted with nine women who had received continuity of care during their childbearing process by student midwives. The interviews were analysed with the help of systematic text condensation. The study was approved by the Norwegian Centre for Research Data (ref. 905085) and the Regional Research Ethics Committee (ref. 2019/608).
RESULTS: Continuity of care enabled a deep relationship between the woman and the student midwife and made the care provided more individualised, giving the woman emotional support and preparing her for birth. The presence of a student midwife during labour and birth who knew the woman\'s story made the woman able to focus on the birth process. Even when unexpected events occurred, the woman had a positive birth experience due to the relationship between her and the student midwife. Continuity of care made the women feel safe and taken care of and was the preferred model of care.
CONCLUSIONS: Continuity of care contributes to individualised and personalised care, enabling all aspects of the woman\'s needs to be considered throughout the childbearing process. Due to the positive impact on the women in the present study, it is appropriate to implement a continuity of care model in midwifery education programmes. Further research should be conducted to examine how doing so would influence both student midwives and women.

Five third-year student midwives were interviewed to assess the impact the assessment of obstetric emergencies had on their perceived confidence to manage them correctly in practice. Using purposive sampling and semi-structured interviews, a qualitative descriptive research was conducted. Four themes were identified: OSCE as a form of assessment, Impact of module and assessment, acquisition of knowledge and ways of improving assessment Participants highlighted that assessments act more as an incentive to study and learn and seemed to bear little relevance on their long-term impact on practice confidence. All interviewed students appear to believe that most of their knowledge was acquired through simulation-based learning, lectures, study revision, and clinical encounters of emergencies. Additionally, the assessment undertaken was felt by them not to be comprehensive enough and needed the incorporation of a variety of stations to assess the students\' knowledge fully. Recommendations on improvement to assessments to maximise students\' confidence and knowledge acquisition have been made.

BACKGROUND: Many high-income countries have seen an increase in severe perineal trauma. Teaching strategies and conditions for learning during the active second stage of labour are scarcely described.
OBJECTIVE: To describe midwifery preceptors and midwifery students\' experiences\' of teaching and learning how to manage the second stage of labour, with the specific aim of preventing severe perineal trauma.
METHODS: A qualitative study with focus group discussions and individual in depth-interviews with preceptor midwives (n = 23) and student midwives (n = 10). Data were analysed by qualitative content analysis.
RESULTS: \"A complex and demanding situation with mutual need for feedback, reflection and safety\" was the overall theme describing the conditions. Three sub-themes were identified. \"Adapting to a unique situation\" refers to the difficulty of teaching and learning the aspects needed to prevent severe perineal trauma, and to provide care during this stage. \"Hindering and limiting circumstances\" describes teaching strategies that were perceived negatively, and how midwifery students tried to adapt to the preceptors rather than the birthing women. \"A trustful and communicative relationship\" describes the importance of the relationship between the student and the preceptor, where communication was a central, but not obvious part.
CONCLUSIONS: An increased awareness among preceptors is needed to optimize teaching strategies, enabling the students to focus on learning the art of the second stage of labour; supporting the woman, preventing severe perineal trauma and ensuring the safety of the unborn baby. Future research should address how existing prevention models can include training to increase preceptors\' confidence in teaching.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the impact of COVID-19 on psychosocial well-being and learning for nursing and midwifery undergraduate students in an Australian university.
BACKGROUND: The World Health Organization has reported a substantial psychological impact of COVID-19 on healthcare professionals to date. Evidence is lacking, however, regarding university nursing and midwifery students of the pandemic and its impact on their educational preparation and/or clinical placement during the COVID-19 pandemic.
METHODS: Cross-sectional survey of nursing and midwifery undergraduate students enrolled in the Bachelor of Nursing suite of courses from the study institution in August- September 2020.
METHODS: A cross-sectional self-administered anonymous online survey was distributed to current nursing and midwifery undergraduate students. The survey included three open-ended questions; responses were thematically analysed.
RESULTS: Of 2907 students invited, 637 (22%) responded with 288 of the respondents (45%) providing a response to at least one of the three open-ended questions. Three major themes associated with the impact of the pandemic on psychosocial well-being and learning were identified: psychosocial impact of the pandemic, adjustment to new modes of teaching and learning, and concerns about course progression and career. These themes were underpinned by lack of motivation to study, feeling isolated, and experiencing stress and anxiety that impacted on students\' well-being and their ability to learn and study.
CONCLUSIONS: Students were appreciative of different and flexible teaching modes that allowed them to balance their study, family, and employment responsibilities. Support from academic staff and clinical facilitators/mentors combined with clear and timely communication of risk management related to personal protective equipment (PPE) in a healthcare facility, were reported to reduce students\' stress and anxiety. Ways to support and maintain motivation among undergraduate nursing and midwifery students are needed.

OBJECTIVE: This systematic review aimed to offer insight and understanding, through synthesis of findings from studies that report on perspectives of student nurses/midwives, clinical instructors, clinical nurses/midwives on the challenges faced by student nurses/midwives in the clinical learning environment (CLE).
METHODS: All primary qualitative research studies published in the English language that reported on the views of student nurses/midwives, clinical instructors and clinical nurses/midwives on the challenges faced by student nurses/midwives in the CLE were included.
METHODS: The electronic databases of Medline EBSCO (1946-), CINAHL (1970), Embase Ovid (1974-), ScielO, WHOLIS (2002-), ASSIA (1985-), Web of Science (1956-), PsycINFO (1800s-) and Maternal and Infant Care (1970-) were searched in November 2019.
METHODS: Retrieved papers were reviewed independently by two authors for selection by title, abstract and full text, and two authors agreed for inclusion of the papers. The COREQ criteria checklist was used for assessment of methodological quality of the included studies.
RESULTS: The review included 32 studies published over 22 years between 1997 and 2019 involving 853 nursing/midwifery students, clinical instructors, and clinical nurses/midwives from 14 countries. Three key themes emerged: \'The support structure\', \'Personal factors\', and \'Planning and organisation - influence of extrinsic factors\'.
CONCLUSIONS: Attitude of clinical staff, instructors, and significant others had a major influence on students\' clinical learning. Lack of a sense of belongingness and self-motivation to learn, and perceived fear of doing errors were some of the demotivating factors. Lack of resources to facilitate need-based training, staff shortages, workload and inconsistencies between theory and practice were other key challenges in the CLE. Understanding the challenges faced by students in clinical practice can help overcome the barriers leading to development of competent and confident nurses and midwives.