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Midwifery Dissertation Topics

Published by Owen Ingram at January 3rd, 2023 , Revised On August 16, 2023

There have been midwives around for decades now. The role of midwives has not changed much with the advent of modern medicine, but their core function remains the same – to provide care and comfort to pregnant women during childbirth.

It is possible to be a midwife in the healthcare industry, but it is not always a rewarding or challenging career. Here are five things you didn’t know about midwifery nursing to help you decide if it could be the right career choice for you.

The profession of midwifery involves caring for women and newborns during pregnancy, childbirth, and the first few days following birth. Registered nurses are trained with four additional years of education along with major research on methods involve in midwifery and writing on midwifery dissertation topics, while midwives provide natural health care for mothers and children.

As a midwife, your role is to promote healthy pregnancies and births while respecting women’s rights and dignity. Midwives provide care to patients at every stage of life, from preconception to postpartum, family planning to home delivery to breastfeeding support.

Important Links: Child Health Nursing Dissertation Topics , Adult Nursing Topics , Critical Care Nursing Dissertation Topics . These links will help you to get a broad experience or knowledge about the latest trends and practices in academics.

Midwifery Is A Good Fit for the Following:

● Those who want to work with women, especially those at risk of giving birth in a hospital setting. ● Those who enjoy helping people and solving problems. ● Those who like to be creative and solve complex problems. ● Those who want to help others and make a difference in their lives.

Midwifery is a career with many benefits for both the midwife and the baby. They are well-trained and experienced in caring for pregnant women and newborns and often have access to the exceptional care that other nurses may not have.

Midwifery Dissertation Topics With Research Aim

Topic:1 adolescence care.

Research Aim: Focus on comprehensive medical, psychological, physical, and mental health assessments to provide a better quality of care to patients.

Topic:2 Alcohol Abuse

Reseasrch Aim: Closely studying different addictions and their treatments to break the habit of drug consumption among individuals.

Topic:3 Birth Planning

Research Aim: Comprehensive birth planning between parents discussing the possible consequences of before, between, and after labour.

Topic:4 Community midwifery

Research Aim: Studying different characters in community midwifery and the midwife’s role in providing care for the infant during the early days of the child’s birth.

Topic:5 Contraception

Research Aim: Understand the simplicity of contraception to prevent pregnancy by stopping egg production that results in the fertilization of egg and sperm in the later stages.

Topic:6 Electronic fetal monitoring

Research Aim: In-depth study of electronic fetal monitoring to track the health of your baby during the womb, record construction per minute, and make a count of your baby’s heart rate.

Topic:7 Family planning

Research Aim: Importance to follow the basic rhythm methods for the couple to prevent pregnancy and use protection during the vaginal sex to plan a family without fertility treatments.

Topic:8 Foetal and newborn care

Research Aim: Expansion of the maternal-fetal and newborn care services to improve the nutritional quality of infants after delivery during their postnatal care time.

Topic:9 Foetal well being

Carefully tracking indications for the rise in heart rate of the fetal by weekly checkups to assess the overall well-being of the fetal.

Topic:10 Gender-based violence

Research Aim: Studying the consequences of male desire for a child that results in gender-based violence, harming the child’s physical and mental health.

Topic:11 Health promotion

Research Aim: Working on practices that help in controlling the amount of pollution of people, taking care of their overall health, and improving quality of life through adapting best health practices.

Topic:12 High-risk pregnancy

Research Aim: Calculating the ordinary risks of a high-risk pregnancy and how it affects a pregnant body resulting in a baby with poor health or any by-birth diseases, increasing the chance for complications.

Topic:13 HIV infection

Research Aim: Common causes of HIV infection and their long-term consequences on the body’s immune system. An in-depth study into the acquired immunodeficiency and the results leading to this.

Topic:14 Human Rights

Creating reports on human rights and their link with the freedom of thought, conscience, religion, belief, and other factors.

Topic:15 Infection prevention and control

Research Aim: Practices for infection prevention and control using efficient approaches for patients and health workers to avoid harmful substances in the environment.

Topic:16 Infertility and pregnancy

Research Aim: Evaluating the percentage of infertility and pregnancy, especially those facing no prior births, and who have high chances of infertility and pregnancy complications.

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Midwives are nurses who provide continuous support to the mother before, during, and after labour. Midwives also help with newborn care and educate parents on how to care for their children.

How Much Do Midwives Make?

The salary of a midwife varies depending on the type of work, location, and experience of the midwife. Midwives generally earn $132,950 per year. The average annual salary for entry-level midwives is $102,390.

The minimum requirement for becoming a midwifery nurse is a bachelor’s degree in nursing, with the option of pursuing a master’s degree.

An accredited educational exam can also lead to certification as a nurse-midwife (CNM). The American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM) enables you to practice independently as a midwife.

There are many pros and cons to working as a midwife. As a midwife, you have the following pros and cons:

Midwives have the opportunity to help women during one of the most memorable moments in their lives.
Midwives can positively impact the health of mothers and their children.
Midwives can work in many hospitals, clinics, and homes.
In midwifery, there are many opportunities for continuing education and professional development.
You will often have to work nights and weekends, which can be mentally draining.
You will have to travel a lot since most births occur in hospitals or centres in different areas.
You will have to deal with stressors such as complex patients and uncooperative families.
You will be dealing with a lot of pain, so you need to be able to handle it without medication or other treatment methods.

A career in midwifery is a great fit for those with a passion for health and wellness, an interest in helping people, and a desire to work in a supportive environment.

It is important to become involved in your local midwifery community if you are contemplating a career in midwifery – the best source of learning is your major research work, along with writing a lengthy thesis document on midwifery dissertation topics that will submit to your university to progress your midwifery career.

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How to find midwifery dissertation topics.

To find midwifery dissertation topics:

Explore childbirth challenges or trends.
Investigate maternal and infant health.
Consider cultural or ethical aspects.
Review recent research in midwifery.
Focus on gaps in knowledge.
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Home > Books > Maternal-Fetal Medicine

Selected Topics in Midwifery Care

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Academic Editor

University of Ljubljana , Slovenia

Published 08 February 2019

Doi 10.5772/intechopen.74444

ISBN 978-1-78985-534-0

Print ISBN 978-1-78985-533-3

eBook (PDF) ISBN 978-1-83962-033-1

Number of pages 136

Midwifery across the globe faces different issues. In some countries the autonomy of the profession is a tradition, while in some societies midwives struggle to practice autonomously the basic competencies. In one part of the world the medicalisation of childbirth is the main issue, preventing the natural processes of pregnancy and childbirth to flow at their own pace, while in other parts of the world midwives struggle with lack of resources to provide safe midwifery care. The authors of this book practice midwifery in different cultures and within different social contexts. They have to deal with different obstacles and seek solutions to diverse problems. With their contributions, they offer an insight into their thinking, their dilemmas, and the problems of midwifery practices in their countries. However, despite different backgrounds, they all have in common a uniform goal - a wish to offer women optimal midwifery care and to improve midwifery services.

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Topics index

Strengthening Midwifery Research

First Online: 06 January 2021

Cite this chapter

Joy Kemp 4 ,
Gaynor D. Maclean 5 &
Nester Moyo 6

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Considering research as an integral part of midwifery education and an indispensable tool in evidence-based practice provides the starting point in this chapter. Network theory is considered prior to exploring midwifery research networks and other initiatives in this context. Examples of initiatives to promote research through universities and professional associations are provided. Priority areas for midwifery research are explored, and the importance of high-quality research is considered in the context of providing evidence upon which safe practice can be based. The chapter concludes by considering the place of midwifery research in the wider context of health care and its significance in the development of the profession of midwifery.

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Additional Resources for Reflection and Further Study

Visit the website of the Lugina Africa Midwives Research Network (LAMRN) at: http://lamrn.org/ Examine the ambitions and achievements of this network and consider how such a network may be replicated in other regions.

Explore the website of the Journal of Asian Midwifery (JAM) at: https://ecommons.aku.edu/jam/ Reflect on the aims and scope of the journal and consider its role in promoting midwifery research and enhancing evidence-based practice.

Readers may wish to compare and contrast the activities of the two structures described above and consider what strengths could be gleaned from both in order to establish a wider network for undertaking and disseminating midwifery research.

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Kemp, J., Maclean, G.D., Moyo, N. (2021). Strengthening Midwifery Research. In: Global Midwifery: Principles, Policy and Practice. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-46765-4_12

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Published: 08 July 2020

A critical interpretive synthesis of the roles of midwives in health systems

Cristina A. Mattison ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-7210-0690 1 ,
John N. Lavis 2 ,
Michael G. Wilson 2 ,
Eileen K. Hutton 1 &
Michelle L. Dion 3

Health Research Policy and Systems volume 18 , Article number: 77 ( 2020 ) Cite this article

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Midwives’ roles in sexual and reproductive health and rights continues to evolve. Understanding the profession’s role and how midwives can be integrated into health systems is essential in creating evidence-informed policies. Our objective was to develop a theoretical framework of how political system factors and health systems arrangements influence the roles of midwives within the health system.

A critical interpretive synthesis was used to develop the theoretical framework. A range of electronic bibliographic databases (CINAHL, EMBASE, Global Health database, HealthSTAR, Health Systems Evidence, MEDLINE and Web of Science) was searched through to 14 May 2020 as were policy and health systems-related and midwifery organisation websites. A coding structure was created to guide the data extraction.

A total of 4533 unique documents were retrieved through electronic searches, of which 4132 were excluded using explicit criteria, leaving 401 potentially relevant records, in addition to the 29 records that were purposively sampled through grey literature. A total of 100 documents were included in the critical interpretive synthesis. The resulting theoretical framework identified the range of political and health system components that can work together to facilitate the integration of midwifery into health systems or act as barriers that restrict the roles of the profession.

Conclusions

Any changes to the roles of midwives in health systems need to take into account the political system where decisions about their integration will be made as well as the nature of the health system in which they are being integrated. The theoretical framework, which can be thought of as a heuristic, identifies the core contextual factors that governments can use to best leverage their position when working to improve sexual and reproductive health and rights.

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Introduction

Midwives’ roles in sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) continue to evolve and an understanding of the profession’s role in health systems is essential in creating evidence-informed policies. Countries across all income levels face challenges with providing high-quality SRHR and achieving effective coverage [ 1 ]. National or sub-national SRHR policies often do not include the midwifery workforce or account for the professions’ role in the provision of high-quality care [ 1 ]. The lack of conceptual clarity regarding the drivers of midwives’ roles within health systems, ranging from their regulation and scope of practice to their involvement in care, has resulted in significant variability both within and across countries on how the profession is integrated into health systems.

Research on midwifery care has demonstrated that the profession delivers high-quality SRHR services [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]. Care provided by midwives who are trained, licensed and regulated according to international standards is associated with improved health outcomes [ 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 ]. While midwifery care is associated with positive outcomes, it is an area that is under-researched [ 8 ]. This is particularly true in relation to how political and health system factors influence the profession’s role in health systems. As such, the roles of midwives in health systems are not clearly understood, which continues to challenge the profession’s ability to work effectively in collaborative and interprofessional settings.

Midwifery research is often dichotomised by the development status of the jurisdiction of focus — high-income countries (HICs) compared to low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). In HICs in general, midwives’ roles are focused on primary care to low-risk pregnant people through pregnancy, labour and a limited post-partum period [ 9 ]. In comparison, in LMICs, midwives’ scope of practice can be broader and extends to many aspects of SRHR [ 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 ]. International organisations (e.g. WHO, United Nations Population Fund and the International Confederation of Midwives) support an expanded approach to midwifery roles to include provision of a range of SRHR services (e.g. health counselling and education, prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission, prevention and treatment of sexually transmitted infections, and provision of safe abortion where legal) [ 4 , 14 ].

Arguably one of the most crucial components of a health system is its health workforce, as highlighted by WHO’s framework of ‘building blocks’ to support health systems strengthening (service delivery, health workforce, health information systems, access to essential medicines, financing and governance) [ 15 ]. While midwifery is recognised as key to SRHR, there is a global shortage of the midwifery workforce [ 2 , 4 ]. Midwives who are educated and regulated according to international standards can provide 87% of a population’s essential SRHR, yet only 36% of the midwifery workforce is made up of such fully trained midwives, with a range of other health workers also delivering midwifery services [ 4 ]. The latter has been made possible by the range of roles that non-midwife health workers play in providing midwifery services [ 4 , 16 ].

The lack of understanding of the roles of midwifery in health systems has led to significant disparities within and across countries. A better understanding of the roles of midwives within the health system is desirable as they are a key component in the delivery of safe and effective SRHR and could possibly improve the cost-effectiveness of the delivery of these services [ 17 , 18 , 19 ]. There is growing recognition that, to strengthen health systems, decisions must be based on the best available research evidence [ 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 ]. Using the available research evidence to understand the roles of midwives across health systems, as well as the political and health system drivers, will yield important insights with the aim of adding to the evidence base that policy-makers can draw from.

The present study asks — across health systems, what are the factors that influence the roles of midwives within the health system? We present a theoretical framework to explain how political and health system factors influence the roles of midwives within the health system. It defines the political system as consisting of three main components, namely institutions, interests and ideas [ 24 ]. ‘Health system arrangements’ are made up of governance, financial and delivery arrangements, and implementation strategies [ 25 ]. Given the lack of theoretical development in the area, this paper, through a critical interpretive synthesis of the available literature, identifies the factors that act as barriers or facilitators to the roles of midwives.

A critical interpretive synthesis was used to develop the theoretical framework, which is an inductive approach to literature analysis. The approach uses conventional systematic review processes while incorporating qualitative inquiries to examine both the empirical and non-empirical literature [ 22 ]. Critical interpretive syntheses are best suited to developing theoretical frameworks that draw on a wide range of relevant sources and are particularly useful when there is a diverse body of literature that is not clearly defined, as is the case with literature related to the roles of midwives in health systems. Conventional systematic reviews have well formulated research questions at the outset, while a critical interpretive synthesis employs a compass question, which is highly iterative and responsive to the findings generated in the review process [ 26 ].

Literature search

The selection of the literature was carried out in phases (Fig. 1 ). The first phase consisted of a systematic search of electronic bibliographic databases. The searches were executed in consultation with a librarian, who provided guidance on developing keywords (along with Boolean operators) and MeSH (Medical Subject Heading), refining the search strategy, identifying additional databases and executing the searches. We searched the following electronic databases through to 14 May 2020: CINAHL, EMBASE, Global Health database, HealthSTAR, Health Systems Evidence, MEDLINE and Web of Science. The search strategy was first developed in the MEDLINE database, using keywords and MeSH. Similar search strings were used across databases, with minor adjustments made to ensure search optimisation. The searches in MEDLINE included midwi* AND (roles OR scope), midwi* AND delivery of health care (MeSH), midwi* AND patient satisfaction (MeSH), midwi* AND quality of health care (MeSH), and midwi* AND standards (MeSH).

Literature search and study selection flow diagram

The second phase, complementary to the bibliographic database search, was a search of policy and health systems-related SRHR and midwifery organisation websites for relevant documents (e.g. World Health Assembly resolutions and United Nations Population Fund’s State of the World’s Midwifery reports). In addition, hand searches of reference lists from key publications were used to identify further relevant literature (e.g. 2014 Lancet Series on Midwifery). The final step in the literature search process was a purposive search to identify literature to fill the conceptual gaps that emerged.

Article selection

For inclusion, the documents had to relate specifically to trained midwives, with leeway in terms of title (e.g. certified nurse-midwives and certified midwives in the United States). Articles were included, that in addition to providing insight into the compass question, also (1) incorporated a range of perspectives across different countries; (2) integrated different concepts into one document; and (3) included perspectives on the compass question from other disciplines (e.g. geographic information system and other techniques to map the distribution of the midwifery workforce). In order to incorporate a broad range of documents, there were no limits placed on the searches such as regarding language or publication year.

An explicit set of exclusion criteria were developed by the research team to remove the documents that were not relevant to the aims of the study and did not link to the compass question. Exclusion criteria included documents (1) with a clinical focus (e.g. clinical guidelines, pharmacology, diagnostics, devices, surgery and/or treatment of shoulder dystocia, diabetes, hypertensive disorders, in pregnancy), unless the focus was on scope of practice (e.g. midwives working in expanded scopes); (2) focused on models of care that were specific to individual practices or hospitals and included those that were related to health system approaches; (3) relating to unskilled workers providing SRHR (e.g. traditional birth attendants); (4) focused on implementation of a programme or evaluation of the programme (e.g. prenatal and postnatal programmes), unless the focus was on the roles of midwives providing care within the health system; (5) focused on midwifery education, unless the focus was on accreditation, training and licensure requirements; and (6) focused on site of service delivery (e.g. outcomes of hospital and home births), unless the focus was on the roles of midwives within the different practice settings.

Once the series of searches were completed, an Endnote database was created to store and manage the results. All the duplicates were removed from the database and an initial review of the titles and abstracts was performed for each entry by the principal investigator (CAM) and records were classified as ‘possibly include’ or ‘exclude’. In the first stage of screening, records were marked as ‘possibly include’ if they provided insight into the study’s compass question. Full-text copies of the remaining records were retrieved and uploaded to Covidence, an online tool for systematic reviews, for final screening [ 27 ].

The last stage of screening involved two phases and consisted of full-text review by three reviewers (CAM, TD and KMB). Using Covidence, each reviewer examined the records independently to assess inclusion. Any discrepancies were discussed and resolved. The reviewers prioritised the inclusion of empirical articles where possible, including empirical qualitative studies, which are the types of articles most likely to address political and health system components.

Data analysis and synthesis

A coding structure was created to guide the data extraction. The areas of expertise of the authors (health systems and policy, clinical practice and political science) informed the selection of frameworks guiding the data extraction. The political system factors were informed through the 3i framework, which is a broad typology that recognises the complex interplay among institutions, interests, and ideas and provides a way of organising the many factors that can influence policy choices [ 24 , 28 , 29 , 30 ]. Institutions are made up of government structures (e.g. federal versus unitary government), policy legacies (e.g. the roles of past policies) and policy networks (e.g. relationships between actors around a policy issue). Interests can include a range of actors who may face (concentrated or diffuse) benefits and costs with particular courses of action, whereas ideas relate to peoples’ beliefs (including those based on research evidence) and values.

‘Health system arrangements’ were informed through an established taxonomy developed by the McMaster Health Forum that includes (1) governance arrangements (e.g. policy authority, organisational authority and professional authority); (2) financial arrangements (e.g. how systems are financed and health professionals remunerated); (3) delivery arrangements (e.g. how care meets consumers’ needs, who provides the care and where it is provided); and (4) implementation strategy (consumer- or provider-targeted strategies) [ 25 ]. The components of the framework for quality maternal and newborn care (practice categories, organisation of care, values, philosophy and health professionals) were incorporated into the health system arrangements coding structure to yield insights specific to midwifery care [ 3 ].

In addition to the frameworks that guided data extraction, further data was collected on publication year, study design and jurisdiction(s) of focus. A data extraction form was developed based on all of the concepts covered in the frameworks as well as the additional descriptive items.

The critical interpretive synthesis was conducted on the high value articles — those that yielded the most insight into the compass question. The reviewers prioritised the inclusion of empirical articles that were conceptually rich or integrated different concepts, filled disciplinary gaps, captured a breadth of perspectives across different countries or applied approaches outside of health. The articles were read by the principal investigator (CAM) and one- or two-page detailed summaries were created for each article. The summaries were coded using the qualitative software NVivo for Mac, which facilitates the organisation and coding of the data [ 31 ]. Coding was informed by the three key frameworks guiding the analysis and outlined above: 3i framework, ‘health system arrangements’ and components of the framework for quality maternal and newborn care.

Three steps were involved in the analysis for the critical interpretive synthesis. First, the summaries of the articles were coded based on the coding structure outlined in the data extraction form. Using a constant comparative method, emerging data were compared to previously collected data to find similarities and differences [ 32 , 33 ]. The approach included observations on the terms and concepts used to describe midwifery within the health system as well as relationships between the concepts. For example, how the role of midwives within the health system is influenced by policy legacies (i.e. institutions), which is related to problems with collaborative/interprofessional environments (i.e. delivery arrangements, skill mix and interprofessional teams). Second, all the data collected under each code was reviewed and more detailed notes of the concepts that emerged were included in the analysis. Lastly, themes were created for the concepts that emerged throughout the analysis.

Completeness of the findings was ensured through ongoing consultation with members of the research team. Central concepts and emerging themes of the study were discussed as a team and applied to current scholarship within the field of health systems and policy.

Search results and article selection

A total of 7779 records were identified through the searches of electronic bibliographic databases. Once duplicates were removed ( n = 3246), the remaining records ( n = 4533) were screened based on title, abstract and the explicit set of exclusion criteria outlined above, leaving 401 potentially relevant records. In addition to the electronic database search, 29 records were purposively sampled for inclusion through grey literature and hand searches. The remaining 401 documents from the electronic database searches and 29 documents from the grey literature and hand searches were assessed by the reviewers (CAM, TD and KMB) for inclusion using the full text. A total of 100 documents were included in the critical interpretive synthesis (Fig. 1 ).

Over three-quarters (79%) of the documents were published after 2010, with no documents published prior to 2000. Of the 100 documents, the majority were primary research ( n = 78), which were mostly qualitative research ( n = 24) and observational studies ( n = 24), followed by the ‘other’ category ( n = 18) (e.g. geographic information systems research), systematic reviews ( n = 15) and mixed methods ( n = 4), while 1 was a randomised control trial. The remaining documents were categorised as non-research ( n = 22), meaning that the approaches taken in the documents were either not systematic or that the methods were not reported transparently. Of the non-research documents, 8 were theoretical papers, 7 were reviews (non-systematic), 4 were ‘other’ (e.g. World Health Assembly resolutions, toolkits, etc.), and the remaining 3 were editorials. Forty-one of the documents focused on LMIC settings, followed by 35 on HIC settings, and 24 focused on both HIC and LMIC settings.

The results of the critical interpretive synthesis focused on the political and health system factors that influenced the roles of midwives within health systems. Table 1 focuses on the political system factors that emerged from the analysis and presents the relevant themes, relationships with other factors, and key examples from the literature of the factors that acted as either barriers or facilitators to the roles of midwives within the health system. Similarly, Table 2 focuses on the health system factors and presents the relevant themes, relationships with other factors, and key examples from the literature on the ‘health system arrangements’ that either acted as barriers or facilitators to the roles of midwives.

Three main findings emerged from the analysis on political system factors. First, within institutions, the effects of past policies regarding the value of midwives created interpretive effects, shaping the way midwifery care is organised in the health system. The legacies of these policies created barriers, which include SRHR policies that reinforced structural gender inequalities as well as, in a medical model, payment systems privileging physician-provided and hospital-based services [ 11 , 13 , 34 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 61 , 62 , 63 , 65 ].

Second, interest groups played an important role in either supporting or opposing the integration of midwifery in the health system. These groups can have direct or indirect influence and policies that provide concentrated benefits and diffuse costs for groups are more likely to move forward [ 24 ]. Interest groups advanced the integration of midwifery in the health system by (1) creating partnerships to improve SRHR [ 45 , 67 ]; (2) promoting regulation and accreditation (e.g. accreditation requirements, setting standards, policies and guidelines) [ 63 , 68 , 69 , 70 ]; (3) capacity-building including midwifery research [ 71 , 72 ]; (4) policy leadership and decision-making [ 43 ]; and (5) lobbying governments and advocacy [ 73 , 74 ]. Strong leadership from midwifery professional associations engaged in policy dialogue and decision-making has helped advance agendas related to universal health coverage and meeting health-related United Nations Sustainable Development Goals [ 8 , 63 , 66 , 71 , 90 ].

Third, the most relevant themes related to ideas that emerged from the analysis pertained to societal values regarding gender (women’s roles within society) as well as the medical model (historical medicalisation of the birth process and associated growth of physician-provided and hospital-based care). We recognise the importance of gender-inclusive language but have use the term ‘women’ in this publication to reflect how gender is referenced in the documents reviewed. Barriers created by societal values included (1) social construction of gender and the status of midwives in a given jurisdiction often reflected the value placed on women within society (i.e. ‘gender penalty’) [ 8 , 11 , 41 , 43 , 46 , 48 , 61 , 71 ]; (2) some cultures and beliefs did not allow women to receive care from men, yet there were few health professionals who were women due to lack of educational opportunities and societal values that restrict women from participating in the paid labour force [ 45 ]; and (3) health system priorities and shifting societal values favoured the medical model [ 41 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 75 , 78 , 99 , 100 , 101 ]. Examples of facilitators included Nordic health systems that value non-medical models and women-dominated professional groups [ 37 ], which respect the right to informed choice [ 86 ].

Within health system factors, the main themes that emerged from the literature are presented according to ‘health system arrangements’. First, within governance arrangements, regulation and accreditation mechanisms to support midwifery education programmes and institutional capacities were central to how midwives are integrated into health systems [ 63 , 70 , 93 , 107 ]. The lack of legislation to support regulatory activities [ 34 , 43 , 48 , 58 , 71 , 82 , 87 , 93 , 94 ] limited recognition and scope [ 38 , 87 ] and the ability for midwives to practice as an autonomous profession [ 80 ]. Globally, there was a general lack of knowledge regarding the International Confederation of Midwives’ Global Standards for Midwifery Education, which was a barrier to the provision of quality midwifery education [ 53 , 66 , 87 , 107 , 108 ]. Within financial arrangements, the literature focused primarily on how systems are financed, on the inclusion of midwifery services within financing systems and on the remuneration of midwives that is reflective of scope of practice [ 1 , 2 , 6 , 10 , 13 , 35 , 38 , 39 , 43 , 50 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 61 , 69 , 73 , 74 , 76 , 80 , 84 , 95 , 101 , 104 , 109 , 115 ]. Lastly, the main themes relating to delivery arrangements focused on (1) accessing midwifery care ranging from availability and timely access to workforce supply, distribution and retention; (2) by whom care is provided (e.g. task-sharing and interprofessional teams); and (3) where care is provided (e.g. hospital-based, integration of services and continuity of care) [ 3 , 4 , 6 , 7 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 43 , 45 , 46 , 48 , 50 , 51 , 54 , 55 , 58 , 59 , 61 , 62 , 69 , 73 , 74 , 76 , 77 , 79 , 86 , 94 , 96 , 97 , 99 , 100 , 104 , 105 , 110 , 116 , 117 , 118 , 120 , 121 , 122 ].

Theoretical framework

Figure 2 brings together the main findings from the critical interpretive synthesis and presents a theoretical framework, which can be thought of as a heuristic that can be used to map the key elements that influence midwives’ roles in a particular political and health system. The factors presented in the framework are not weighted but rather present the range of variables influencing the level of integration of the profession. The cumulative effects of the barriers presented on the right-hand side of the framework lead to health systems where the profession is disempowered and midwives exist on the margins with very limited capacity. Some of the variables and examples presented in the framework have context specificity to reflect findings from the critical interpretive synthesis (e.g. self-regulated profession, Indigenous self-government, Nordic maternity care systems, and payment systems privileging physician-provided and hospital-based services in some contexts).

Theoretical framework of the political and health system factors that influence the roles of midwives within the health system

Principal findings

Similar to the concept of WHO’s health system ‘building blocks’, the political system factors presented in the theoretical framework form the bottom building block or the foundation for the ‘health system arrangements’, acting as either a barrier or facilitator. For example, favourable institutional factors (e.g. policy legacies that value midwifery as a profession), interests (e.g. collaborative interest groups coming together to reach a common goal) and ideas (e.g. societal values centring on gender equality and birth as a natural process) act as enablers to ‘health system arrangements’ that build on each other to support the integration of midwifery. Together, supportive political and health system factors lead to health systems where midwives practice to scope (i.e. trained, licensed and regulated according to international standards, working in collaborative/interprofessional settings with an established workforce). On the other hand, health systems that have many political and health system challenges will in turn have a limited midwifery workforce where midwives lack an institutional voice and representation in SRHR decision-making. Significant barriers limit the options available to the midwifery workforce and is most often reflected in siloed work settings with midwives working in the periphery of the health system.

Strengths and limitations of the study

The main strength of the study is the use of a critical interpretive synthesis. This is a relatively new systematic review methodology, which combines a rigorous systematic review of electronic bibliographic databases with iterative and purposive sampling of the literature to fill conceptual gaps. The approach incorporated a range of documents (empirical and non-empirical), which broadened the scope of the literature used to inform the theoretical framework.

The main limitation of the critical interpretive synthesis was that the search strategy may not have fully covered the diverse terminology used to refer to midwifery. However, the principal investigator (CAM) consulted with a librarian and team members to ensure that the search strategy was as inclusive as possible, which is also reflected by the high proportion of articles that were later excluded during the screening process. Meanwhile, the majority of articles retrieved from the searches were published after 2000, which could be related to the release of the Millennium Development Goals and subsequent Sustainable Development Goals, and the wider attention given to SRHR on global agendas.

Implications for policy and practice

Any changes to the roles of midwifery in health systems needs to take into account the political system where decisions about their integration will be made as well as the nature of the health system in which they are being integrated. The theoretical framework is a tool that helps to inform such changes by identifying the drivers of midwives’ roles that facilitate or constrain such integration. The study results have implications for policy-makers as, firstly, the theoretical framework can be used to conduct an assessment of the factors in order to strengthen the profession by identifying the facilitators that can be leveraged as well as the barriers that can be addressed to support change. For example, Sweden has favourable political system conditions (e.g. policy legacies of professionalisation of midwives dating back to the eighteenth century and an equitable alliance between midwifery and physician groups), which is reflected in the health system arrangements where midwives are the primary health professionals for low-risk pregnant people. In contrast, the United States has policy legacies of payment systems valuing physician-provided and hospital-based care, strong physician and hospital interest groups have created a monopoly over sexual and reproductive health services, and existing tensions within the profession between nurse midwives and midwives.

Moving forward, an implication for practice is that changes to further enhance the role of midwives would require different types of policy levers. In looking at growing midwifery in LMICs, governments can use the tool to understand how to best influence the integration of the profession. This information will provide valuable experience and understanding of the contextual factors so that governments can best leverage their position when working with bilateral and multilateral funders to improve SRHR. Conversely, in the example of the United States, the framework presented helps to explain why midwives play such a small role in sexual and reproductive health service delivery in the United States. The tool highlights that funding and regulatory levers would need to be pulled; yet, strong policy legacies and entrenched interests present significant barriers. Change would require spending political capital to modify existing structures within the health system.

While research evidence on the role of midwives in the provision of high-quality SRHR has increased and the 2014 Lancet Series on Midwifery was key to raising the profile of midwifery research, significant gaps in the literature persist. Structural gender inequalities are reflected in the low status of midwifery in some contexts, which leads to poor political and health systems supports to invest in quality midwifery care [ 43 ]. Our findings show that the research evidence related to the roles of midwives within health systems is relatively saturated in terms of delivery arrangements yet surprisingly little is known about governance and financial arrangements and about implementation strategies, which are key to effectively integrating midwifery and pushing the field forward in meaningful ways.

Availability of data and materials

All data generated or analysed during this study are included in this published article and summarised in Tables 1 and 2 .

Abbreviations

High-income countries

Low- and middle-income countries

Sexual and reproductive health and rights

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CAM conceived the study design with her supervisor, JNL, and was responsible for all data collection and analysis. JNL, EKH, MGW and MLD provided content expertise (health systems and health policy, clinical practice and political science) to inform the selection of frameworks guiding the data extraction. All authors contributed to the development of the conceptual framework and approved the final manuscript.

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Mattison, C.A., Lavis, J.N., Wilson, M.G. et al. A critical interpretive synthesis of the roles of midwives in health systems. Health Res Policy Sys 18 , 77 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12961-020-00590-0

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Home » Blog » Dissertation » Topics » Nursing » Midwifery Nursing » 80 Midwifery Dissertation Topics

80 Midwifery Dissertation Topics

FacebookXEmailWhatsAppRedditPinterestLinkedInAre you a student searching for midwifery dissertation topics for your undergraduate, master’s, or doctoral studies? Look no further! We understand the importance of choosing the perfect research topic for your midwifery dissertation. Our extensive list of midwifery dissertation topics will provide you with many ideas to explore and contribute to the field. Whether you’re […]

Are you a student searching for midwifery dissertation topics for your undergraduate, master’s, or doctoral studies? Look no further! We understand the importance of choosing the perfect research topic for your midwifery dissertation. Our extensive list of midwifery dissertation topics will provide you with many ideas to explore and contribute to the field.

Whether you’re interested in investigating the impact of midwifery practices on maternal and child health, exploring innovative techniques in childbirth, or analyzing the role of midwives in promoting breastfeeding, our diverse range of topics has got you covered. With our comprehensive collection of midwifery dissertation topics, you can embark on a research journey that fulfills your academic requirements and makes a valuable contribution to the healthcare sector. Discover the perfect midwifery research topic today and make a lasting impact on the world of midwifery.

A List Of Potential Dissertation Topics In Midwifery:

Investigating the impact of COVID-19 on midwifery education and training.
The effect of midwifery-led care on reducing interventions in birth.
Understanding the role of midwives in addressing birth disparities among minority women.
Examining the barriers and facilitators to midwifery-led care in urban settings.
Assessing the mental health and well-being of midwives in the post-COVID-19 era.
The impact of midwifery-led water births on maternal and neonatal outcomes.
The influence of COVID-19 on maternal and neonatal mortality rates: insights for midwifery care.
Examining the impact of midwifery-led group prenatal education on women’s knowledge and empowerment.
Exploring the benefits and challenges of midwifery-led care for women with high body mass index (BMI).
Assessing the knowledge and attitudes of midwives towards perinatal mental health screening and support.
The impact of COVID-19 on maternal and neonatal health outcomes: an analysis of midwifery practices and interventions.
How does midwifery-led continuity of care impact maternal satisfaction and birth outcomes compared to traditional fragmented models of care?
Exploring the experiences of midwives providing care for women with previous traumatic birth experiences.
Assessing the knowledge and practice of midwives in managing perinatal mental health disorders.
The experiences of midwives working in high-risk obstetric units.
Assessing the effectiveness of midwifery-led breastfeeding support in improving exclusive breastfeeding rates.
The role of midwives in addressing vaccine hesitancy and promoting COVID-19 vaccination among pregnant women.
How does midwifery care contribute to reducing obstetric interventions and cesarean section rates?
Assessing the impact of COVID-19 on midwifery-led postnatal care and parenting support.
Understanding the factors influencing women’s decision to choose midwifery-led care in a hospital setting.
Assessing the implications of COVID-19 on midwifery-led breastfeeding support and promotion.
The role of midwives in supporting women with perinatal loss and grief.
How do midwives support women with complex pregnancies and medical conditions throughout the antenatal, intrapartum, and postnatal periods?
Assessing the impact of midwifery-led antenatal care on maternal and neonatal outcomes.
The impact of midwifery-led water births on women’s satisfaction and birth outcomes.
Exploring midwives’ experiences providing care for women with perinatal substance use disorders.
The midwives’ experiences caring for women with birth trauma and postnatal depression.
Exploring the experiences and challenges of midwives providing care during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Understanding the perceptions of women towards midwifery-led care in multicultural settings.
Examining the role of midwives in promoting positive birth experiences for women with previous cesarean sections.
Examining the effectiveness of midwifery-led interventions in reducing postpartum hemorrhage.
What are the barriers and facilitators to implementing evidence-based practices in midwifery care?
Examining the impact of midwifery-led care on reducing neonatal mortality rates.
Understanding the perspectives of midwives on integrating technology into maternal care.
Exploring the role of midwives in promoting evidence-based practice in maternity care.
Examining the challenges midwives face in providing culturally sensitive care to immigrant women.
Investigating the impact of COVID-19 on perinatal mental health and the role of midwives in identifying and addressing psychological distress.
Investigating the impact of COVID-19 on midwifery-led models of care and birth centers.
Examining the factors influencing women’s decision to use midwifery-led birth centers.
Understanding the challenges and strategies for maintaining quality midwifery care during the COVID-19 pandemic in low-resource settings.
The experiences and challenges of midwives providing care for women with gestational diabetes.
What are the experiences and perspectives of midwives working in rural or underserved areas, and how does this impact access to maternity care?
Exploring the long-term effects of COVID-19 infection on maternal and neonatal health.
Understanding the experiences of pregnant women and midwives in virtual prenatal care during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Exploring the experiences of women who opt for home births with midwives.
Assessing the effects of COVID-19 on midwifery workforce and staffing in healthcare settings.
The impact of midwifery-led continuity of care on maternal satisfaction.
Examining the effectiveness of midwifery-led antenatal education programs in empowering women.
Exploring the integration of complementary and alternative medicine in midwifery practice.
The impact of midwifery-led care on birth outcomes in low-income communities.
Assessing the knowledge and practices of midwives in recognizing and managing obstetric emergencies.
Assessing the knowledge and practices of midwives in managing perineal trauma during childbirth.
The role of midwifery telehealth services in ensuring continuity of care during and after COVID-19.
Assessing the role of midwives in promoting sexual and reproductive health education among adolescents.
What challenges do midwives face in providing culturally sensitive care to diverse populations during pregnancy, birth, and postpartum?
Understanding the role of midwives in facilitating normal birth in an obstetric unit.
The role of midwives in promoting maternal mental health during pregnancy and postpartum.
The impact of midwifery-led postpartum care on women’s physical and emotional well-being.
The impact of midwifery-led care on breastfeeding rates and duration.
What is the impact of midwifery-led educational programs on empowering women to make informed choices regarding their maternity care?
The role of midwives in supporting women with disabilities during pregnancy, birth, and postpartum.
Exploring the benefits and challenges of implementing midwifery-led care in rural communities.
Exploring the role of midwives in providing mental health support to pregnant women affected by COVID-19.
Investigating the changes in midwifery practice and policies in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and their long-term implications for maternal and neonatal care.
The use of technology in remote antenatal monitoring and postpartum care: lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Understanding the factors influencing women’s choice of birth setting: a comparative study.
Exploring the role of midwives in promoting maternal resilience and coping strategies in the face of the COVID-19 crisis.
Understanding midwives’ experiences in providing care for women with substance use disorders.
Exploring the effectiveness of midwifery-led group prenatal care.
Examining the role of midwives in supporting breastfeeding initiation and duration.
How do midwives contribute to promoting maternal mental health during the perinatal period?
What are the factors influencing the choice of birth setting among women and the role of midwives in supporting their decision-making process?
What is the effectiveness of midwifery-led interventions in promoting breastfeeding initiation and duration?
The role of midwives in educating women on healthy lifestyle choices during pregnancy.
Understanding the factors influencing women’s decision to opt for midwifery-led home births.
Exploring the factors influencing women’s decision to request cesarean section.
The influence of COVID-19 on women’s decision-making regarding birthing location and home births: insights for midwives.
Exploring the challenges midwives face in providing culturally competent care to diverse populations.
Investigating the role of midwives in reducing preterm birth rates.

To wrap up, a wide range of midwifery topics are available for dissertation research. This offers an excellent opportunity to explore deeply and contribute to the field. Whether you are an undergraduate, master’s, or doctoral student, the research topics in midwifery present diverse possibilities to delve into. You can explore birth outcomes, maternal mental health, breastfeeding support, cultural competence, standard birth promotion, and more. So, dive into the fascinating world of midwifery research topics, choose a captivating subject, and embark on an exciting journey of discovery and academic growth.

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Midwifery Dissertation Topics List (30 Examples) For Your Research

Mark Dec 14, 2019 Jun 5, 2020 Midwifery , Nursing No Comments

As a student, if you are finding Midwifery dissertation topics, you have visited the right site. We offer a wide range of midwifery dissertation topics and project topics on midwifery. As the field has evolved, the research topics on midwifery are based on new and emerging concepts and ideas. You can choose any of the […]

As a student, if you are finding midwifery dissertation topics, you have visited the right site. We offer a wide range of midwifery dissertation topics and project topics on midwifery. As the field has evolved, the research topics on midwifery are based on the new and emerging concepts and ideas.

You can choose any of the give topic for your research in midvfery and our team can offer quality dissertations according to your requirements.

A list Of midwifery dissertaton topics

Emerging trends in midwifery and obstetrical nursing.

Modern trends of the N education in midwives and modern methods in practical training.

The impact of delayed umbilical cord clamping after birth.

How the cell-free DNA screening is helpful in identifying genetic problems in the baby?

Limiting interventions during low-risk labor.

The concept of cost containment in healthcare deliver.

The importance of family centred care and natural childbirth environment.

An interpretive research on the disparity between women’s expectations and experience during childbirth.

Systematic literature review on the extrauterine life management focusing on lung functions in new born.

To analyse the role of perinatal care to pregnant women.

Studying the treatment alternatives for urogenital infections in rural women.

Conducting a systematic review on how midwifery students plan their career.

Strategies adopted by midwives to advise pregnant women about nutritional values and healthy food consumption.

Studying the impact of Hepatitis B in pregnant women.

Analysing how frequent miscarriages are linked with higher anticardiolip antibodies.

Studying the relationship between perinatal mortality rates and physical activity levels.

How can nurses recommend preventive strategies to avoid sexual transmission of Zika virus to new born?

Evaluating the attitude of women related to the implementation of basic immunisation programs in village.

Analysing the modern trends of the education in midwives and new methods in practical training.

To study the advance trends in gynaecology and obstetrics.

The role of midwives in saving the lives of unborn foetus.

Exploring the global trends in nursing and midwifery education.

Analysing the role of optimal midwifery decision-making during second-stage labour.

To study the integration of clinical reasoning into midwifery practice.

A literature review on labouring in water.

Exploring the experiences of mothers in caring for children with complex needs.

An ethnography of independent midwifery in Asian countries.

To explore the perceptions of control in midwifery assisted childbirth.

Analysing the decision-making between nurse-midwives and clients regarding the formulation of a birth plan.

The role of Vitamin D supplementation during pregnancy .

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Role of the Midwife in Research

Background

The ICM International Code of Ethics for Midwives (2014) states that “Midwives use up-to-date, evidence-based professional knowledge to ensure safe birthing practices in all environments and cultures (maintain competence)”, and that “Midwives develop and share midwifery knowledge through a variety of processes, such as peer review and research”.

The ICM believes that all women deserve the highest quality, culturally relevant, evidence-based health midwifery services.

The ICM further believes that midwives have a role in, and responsibility for advancing midwifery knowledge within the profession, thereby improving the health of women and their newborns.

The ICM urges:

Midwives, involved in the advancement of knowledge through research, to adhere to ICM’s most current ‘Guidelines for Ethical Research’ .
Midwives to maintain records and create/contribute to national and international databases on the quality, cost, safety and effectiveness of midwifery care.
Midwives to understand and adhere to the principles of ethical codes for researchers as stipulated in the Declaration of Helsinki.
Midwives to design/participate in studies that support and promote holistic and evaluate the effects of using technology as an intervention during childbirth.
That research on the childbearing cycle maintains a holistic approach that includes the physiological, psycho-social, cultural and spiritual aspects of the health of women and newborns.
That midwives, be responsible for promoting and participating in the design, implementation and evaluation of studies within their area of expertise.
That midwifery education programmes, in line with the Global Standards for Midwifery
Education, include the theory and practical application of research so that midwives are able to appraise, interpret and critically apply appropriate research findings to ensure their practice is evidence-based.

Recommendations

Member Associations are encouraged to adopt a similar statement or use this one to promote the role of the midwife in research. Member Associations are urged to demand that midwives are represented on research and ethics committees and to facilitate individual midwives in joining and contributing to the work of such committees; as well as to support and provide resources for midwifery research whenever possible.

ICM Related Documents

International Code of Ethics for Midwives

The International Code of Ethics for Midwives addresses the midwife’s ethical mandates in keeping with the International Definition of the Midwife, and ICM standards.

Midwifery-led researches for evidence-based practice: Clinical midwives engagement in research in Ethiopia, 2021

Keflie yohannes gebresilassie.

1 Midwifery Directorate, University of Gondar, Gondar, Ethiopia

Adhanom Gebreegziabher Baraki

2 Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Gondar, Gondar, Ethiopia

Belayneh Ayanaw Kassie

3 Midwifery Directorate, School of Midwifery, University of Gondar, Gondar, Ethiopia

Sintayehu Daba Wami

4 Department of Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety, University of Gondar, Gondar, Ethiopia

Associated Data

All relevant data are within the paper and its Supporting information files.

Introduction

Health workers involvement in research had an impact on studies and whole system. They influence the clinical practice and help to implement evidences. Although International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) put research as one of the midwifery competencies and professional development activity, clinical midwives are poorly involved in research. Therefore, this study is aimed to assess clinical midwives engagement in research and bridge the gap through applicable strategies.

Institution-based cross-sectional study was conducted among clinical midwives working at public health facilities of Central and North Gondar Zone, Ethiopia from September to October, 2020 G.C. A structured and pre-tested self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data and entered into Epi-info version 7. Descriptive statistics was used to describe study population. Bi-variable and multi-variable logistic regression analysis was performed using STATA Version 14 and significance level declared at 95% confidence interval, p-value ≤ 0.05 and respective odds ratios.

Out of 335 clinical midwives, 314 were participated making the response rate 93.7%. Among the midwives, one hundred seventy two (54.8%) (95% CI: 49.08%, 60.37) have good skill on conducting a research. Clinical midwives with mothers with formal education [AOR: 1.90, 95% CI: (1.03, 3.51), currently work on referral hospitals [AOR: 2.33, 95% CI: (1.19, 4.53)] and having good level of knowledge on research [AOR: 2.19, 95% CI: (1.25, 3.82)] have significant association with having good research skill. Forty eight (15.2%) (95% CI: 11.5%, 19.7%) ever participated in research during their clinical practice. Clinical midwives who have good knowledge on research [AOR: 0.31, 95% CI: (0.14, 0.70)] are about 0.3 times less likely to participate on research than who have poor knowledge [AOR: 0.31, 95% CI: (0.14, 0.70)].

Conclusion and recommendation

Although more than half have good research skill, only a small proportion of midwives were involved in research. Capacity building activities are crucial to strengthen midwives skill on research and ensure their involvement.

Health workers involvement in research had an impact on studies and whole system. They influence the clinical practice and help to implement evidences [ 1 ]. The new approach named clinical academics had health care and academic roles, thus they combine practice with research [ 2 ]. Despite these recommendations [ 3 ], most college and universities didn’t have clinical academic [ 4 ] and they are not appropriately utilizing their potentials.

Health workers involved in research activities have various reasons that includes individual interest, as part of the curriculum, to improve service quality through shred of evidences, prior experience and/or exposure, professional development and financial benefits [ 1 ]. Nevertheless, International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) has put continuous professional development including research activities as one of midwifery competencies [ 5 ].

Clinical midwives perceived research as other professions role, especially the academic [ 6 ]. They had to aware of and involve in research to improve the clinical care [ 7 ] and overall quality of midwifery services as they can identify health problems for research from their experience.

Although research capacity building for clinical midwives is recommended [ 8 ], most involve as data collector and not more than that. Individuals were capacitated with training, support, workshops and using technologies. In low and middle-income countries projects, partnership and network had built health research capacity. However the lack of empirical research has become a challenge to see their effectiveness [ 9 ].

Once ability to influence practice with research, difficulties to work with the academics [ 1 ], and communication skills could affect their motivation [ 10 ] and confidence [ 11 ] to conduct research were individual barriers for conducting a research. Organizational leadership and management and research recognitions [ 1 ] also had an effect on research capacity. Resources for research such as dedicated time [ 12 , 13 ], research expertise [ 14 ], access to research findings [ 15 ] and opportunities [ 1 ]; availability of funding [ 12 , 14 , 16 ] and investment on research activity [ 15 , 17 ] could limit once research capacity and ability to conduct research. Other studies added that building research partnerships [ 10 ], having research culture [ 16 ], professional development opportunities and inadequate salaries [ 14 , 15 ] as cause to poorly involve in research. At Supra-organizational level, health research policies and governance [ 10 ] had an influence on participation and involvement in research.

Despite the observed gaps and limiting factors, scientific studies are lacking to study clinical midwives engagement in research and contributing factors. Thus, this study was done to bridge the gaps, which will help to set appropriate strategies and interventions to conduct midwifery-led researches. The study will be a baseline for conducting further studies and results will have an input for School of Midwifery at University of Gondar to improve the curriculum and built midwifery student’s research capacity at undergraduate level.

Methodology

Study design, setting, study population and sampling.

Institution-based cross-sectional study was conducted among clinical midwives working at public health facilities of Central and North Gondar Zone, Ethiopia, from September to October 2020 G.C. The study area covers two of the four zones of Amhara region (Central, west, north and south Gondar Zones), in which around 6,335,757 estimated populations are living. There are a total of 23 public hospitals and 222 health center. In North and Central Gondar Zone, around 350 trained registered clinical midwives are working in these institutions. All Midwives working in clinical setting of Central and North Gondar Zone were considered as the source and study population. All registered midwives working in the study area were included, whereas those who are working in administrative and academic area, midwives who are sick and unable to respond were excluded from the study.

Data collection and quality control

Before actual data collection, discussion was done on prevention measures of the current pandemic, Corona-Virus (Covid-19) and basic protective materials (Sanitizer, face mask and glove) were given for data collectors and supervisors. A structured pre-tested self-administered questionnaire was used to collect the data. The tool was developed by referring different literatures [ 18 ], first prepared in English and translated back into Amharic, the local language. The tool was checked for consistency statistically using Cronbach’s alpha. Training was given for five data collectors and supervisor on the objective of the study and confidentiality for two days. Pretest was done on 5% of sample size among midwives working other than the study area and necessary correction done. The collected data was assessed for completeness and accuracy on daily basis. The tool has socio-demographic and academic characteristics; questions for assessing research skill and participation. Clinical Midwives are a registered midwives working in the clinical setting/area. A participant who answers more than 50% of the skill assessment questions will be considered as having good skill on research. Similarly, a participant will be considered as practicing (conducting) research if s/he has ever involved in part of a research other than one conducted as a partial fulfillment of his or her midwifery study.

Data management and analysis procedure

Data was entered into Epi-info version 7 and exported to STATA version 14 for further analysis. Descriptive analysis like frequencies, percentages, means and standard deviations computed for all variables. Model fitness was tested with Hosmer and Lemeshow goodness of fit and both bi-variable and multivariate logistic regression models were carried out to estimate the association. Variables with a p -value of less than 0.2 in the bi-variable analysis were entered into the multivariable logistic regression analysis. Both Crude Odds Ratio (COR) and Adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR) with their corresponding 95% confidence intervals were estimated. Finally, variables with a P-value of less than 0.05 in multivariable logistic regression model were considered as significantly associated with knowledge and attitude towards research.

1. Socio demographic and academic characteristics

Out of 335 clinical midwives 314 were participated making the response rate 93.7%. Age of the midwives range from 18 to 50 years, with median age of 27 years old. More three fifth (66.9%) of the midwives age was between 25 to 29 years. Among all midwives, more than half (52.9%) were male, while two hundred seventy four (87.3%) were Urban dwellers. More than three fifth (63.1%) of the midwives’ were Bachelor degree holders, while majority (73.6%) were graduated from governmental colleges. Nearly there fifth of the midwives (58.6%) study with regular educational program ( Table 1 ).

Others*—dead

Others**—Gyn ward, Postnatal care, Youth Friendly Service, Immunization

2. Clinical midwives research skill and practice

2.1 skill of clinical midwives to conduct a research.

Among the midwives, one hundred seventy two have good skill on conducting a research making the magnitude 54.8% (95% CI: 49.08%, 60.37).

Among the midwives, nearly half (48.4%) reported as having high skill on identifying research problems, while 132 (42%) have high skill on conducting literature review. More than two fifth (42.7%) and one hundred twenty three (39.2%) of the midwives reported as having poor skill on data management and data analysis using software respectively. Clinical midwives reported as they have high skill on applying for research funding (35%) and to give advice for less experienced researchers (28.7%). ( Table 2 ).

2 . 1 . 1 . Factors associated with clinical midwives skill on research . To identify factors, bi-variable and multi-variable logistic regression analysis was carried out for seven explanatory variables. In multi-variable analysis; Mother educational status of having formal education; currently working on referral health facilities; having good level of knowledge on research and taking prior research course have a positive significant association with skill on research ( Table 3 ).

Clinical midwives who take prior research course were about 1.9 times more likely to have good research skill than their counterparts. [AOR: 1.95, 95% CI: (1.00, 3.82)].

Clinical midwives who have mothers with formal education are about 1.9 times more likely to have good research skill. [AOR: 1.90, 95% CI: (1.03, 3.51)].

Clinical midwives who currently work on specialized/referral hospitals were about 2.3 times more likely to have good research skill than their counterparts. [AOR: 2.33, 95% CI: (1.19, 4.53)].

Clinical midwives who have good level of knowledge on research are about 2.2 times more likely to have good research skill than their counterparts. [AOR: 2.19, 95% CI: (1.25, 3.82)].

2.2. Clinical midwives involvement in conducting research

Among all the midwives, forty eight (15.2%) (95% CI: 11.5%, 19.7%) ever participated in research during their clinical practice. ( Fig 1 ).

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Object name is pone.0268697.g001.jpg

More than half (52.1%) have involved in one research activities, while thirty (9.6%) have a responsibility of data collection in the research they involved. Nearly three fifth (72.9%) believe that the research they involved in contributed to the policy and/or the clinical practice in any way. Among the midwives, twenty three (7.3%) ever present at conferences and 13 (4.1%) ever publish research findings. ( Table 4 ).

2 . 2 . 1 . Factors associated with clinical midwives practice on a research . To identify factors, bi-variable and multi-variable logistic regression analysis was carried out for five explanatory variables that have association with outcome variable. In multi-variable analysis; knowledge level on research course have a negative significant association with participation on research. ( Table 5 ).

Clinical midwives who have good knowledge on research are about 0.3 times less likely to participate on research than who have poor knowledge. [AOR: 0.31, 95% CI: (0.14, 0.70)].

The ICM strongly recommends involvement of midwives in research to provide high quality midwifery services [ 19 ]. This study was conducted to assess clinical midwife’s engagement on research and associated factors in Northwest Ethiopia. A total of three hundred fourteen midwives working at public health facilities were participated and majority (63.1%) were registered midwives with Bachelor degree holders.

Only nearly above half (50.6%) of the midwives say that their facility has continuous professional development program for staffs including midwives and this indicate that there is a limited opportunity to upgrade oneself. Unless there is no adequate and continual support to midwives, quality of midwifery services provided for the women could be affected [ 20 ]. A study in Tanzania was also evident that lack of evidence-based practices supported with research could result to poor service provision for patients (30% to 40%) and to have poor health outcomes [ 21 ]. A recent studies review highlighted that midwifery and nurses research publication are increased and suggested to have capacity building activities for strengthening the observed result [ 22 ]. Although it is not found significant, level of income is associated with quality of midwives performance on provision of care as evidenced by a study conducted in Gaza [ 23 ]. Professional benefits such as good salary might have an effect on midwives motivation and retention.

A significant proportion (52.9%) of midwives also responded that their health facilities doesn’t conduct research activities relevant to clinical practice. This might be due to that majority (64.5%) of midwives work on Primary Health Care units (Health Centers and Primary Hospitals). In Ethiopian health care system, facilities are not expected to conduct research activities unless they have teaching role, in addition to patient care service [ 24 ]. Midwives also reported that in addition to poor support from their facility (63.1%) and other professionals (60.2%), there are no opportunities to participate in research conferences (52.9%). As a result midwives poorly utilized research findings in their clinical service [ 25 ]. Moreover lack of dedicated time and poor implementation of research findings further deteriorate the application of research in the clinical practice [ 26 ].

In our study higher odds of good research skill was noted among midwives with formal maternal education (1.9 times) and it has an effect on academic performance [ 27 ].

Midwives who work on specialized/referral hospitals were found to have higher good research skill (2.3 times) than who work in primary health care facilities (health centers). This finding is supported with recent study conducted in North Gondar [ 25 ] and might be reasoned with that in referral health facilities there might be different opportunities to learn about research and related activities as they are teaching hospitals. Moreover these facilities are more likely to utilize research findings in their day too day clinical practice [ 25 ].

Having good research knowledge was associated with having good skill on research (2.2 times). Both research knowledge and skill are crucial to conduct a research as they are interrelated competencies.

Our study found that a small proportion of midwives (15.2%) ever participated in research during their clinical practice, in which 9.6% as data collector. This indicate that there is limited opportunities for midwives to be involved in research activities. Although a higher proportion (36.4%) of Australian nurses were reported as they involved in research, there is still a deficiency in health professional’s engagement in research activities [ 28 ]. In Latin America and the Caribbean, a review of studies also found that there is gap on midwifery-led researches, where most (95.8%) studies were nurses-led [ 29 ]. In our study, although more than three fifth (70.8%) of the midwives reported as they participated in a midwives-led researches, their capacity could be improved if they have the opportunity to work collaboratively with other disciplines such as public health experts, epidemiologists and physicians. Nearly three fifth (72.9%) believe that the research they involved in contributed to the policy and/or the clinical practice in any way. This is indicate that midwives have a positive understanding on the research activities they involved in. As they know the practical setting, they can identify and suggest on the real problem that will benefit the woman and her child [ 7 ].

Although midwives have good knowledge on research, they were less likely (0.3 times) to ever participate on research than who have poor knowledge. This indicate that there is limited opportunities for midwives with adequate research knowledge. This might be due to that a significant proportion of midwives (47.8%) work on health centers and opportunities are scarce.

The study find that research capacity of clinical midwives is not adequate. Only small proportion (15.2%) of midwives participated in research and having good knowledge on research was associated with it. Similarly research skill was associated with mothers with formal education, currently working in specialized /referral health facilities, and having good knowledge on research.

Recommendation

Ethiopian Ministry of Health better to capacitate health facilities to conduct local researches, particularly primary and general hospitals. It is also better to give priority and support health professionals working in the clinical setting to conduct research and related activities. With the existing continuous professional development programs, Regional Health Bureau better to expand opportunities for clinical midwives working in the region.

Ethiopian Midwifery Association (EMwA), University of Gondar and School of Midwifery better to contribute a lot to support clinical midwives with capacity building activities on research such as training, create opportunities and arrange conferences so that they can be involved and conduct researches in their clinical practice. Strengthening the integration of the school and hospital midwifery coordinator is also crucial to work collaboratively and share experience on research and related activities. Moreover it is good to provide dedicated time for clinical service providers including midwives to participate in research and related activities.

Supporting information

Acknowledgments.

We are indebted to the University of Gondar for the approval of the ethical clearance. The authors also forward their gratitude to study participants, data collectors and supervisors who participated in the study.

Funding Statement

The authors received no specific funding for this work.

Data Availability

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Midwife continuity of care model linked to positive experiences during pregnancy

by King's College London

Increasing midwifery continuity of care has been identified as a key priority for maternity services in the United Kingdom (UK). Published today in Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews , a study led by Professor Jane Sandall and colleagues, which builds on previous research, compares how outcomes for women and their babies who received a midwife continuity of care model differed from other models of care.

Midwife continuity of care models provide care from the same midwife or team of midwives during pregnancy, birth, and the early parenting period, in collaboration with obstetric and specialist teams when required. Midwife continuity of care models have been a key approach to transforming Maternity Services in England since 2016, with the aim of making birth safer, more personalized, and equitable.

The review found that women receiving midwife continuity of care models were less likely to experience a cesarean section or instrumental birth and were more likely to experience spontaneous vaginal birth and report a positive experience.

Additionally, midwife continuity of care provides benefits for health services through cost savings in the antenatal (care during pregnancy) and intrapartum (care during labor and birth) period, and women who experience midwife continuity of care models also reported more positive experiences during pregnancy, labor, and postpartum.

"The studies included models of care that offered intrapartum care in hospitals, midwife birth centers co-located in a maternity unit and home birth. We found that midwife continuity of care models, as compared to other models of care, increase spontaneous vaginal birth, reduce cesarean sections and instrumental vaginal birth (forceps/vacuum), and may reduce episiotomy," says Sandall.

The team identified trials that compared midwife continuity of care throughout the antepartum and the intrapartum period (and postnatal period where offered) with other models of care. The results of the trials were compared, summarized, and rated in the evidence based on factors such as study methods and size, and in total, 17 studies were identified that involved a total of 18,533 women in Australia, Canada, China, Ireland, and the United Kingdom.

Although women who received midwife continuity models of care were less likely to experience certain interventions and more likely to be satisfied with their care, there was uncertainty about the effect, as compared to other models of care, on fetal loss at or after 24 weeks gestation, neonatal death, third or fourth-degree tear or maternal readmission within 28 days of birth.

The researchers found that midwife continuity models resulted in little to no difference in preterm birth , intact perineum, postpartum hemorrhage, and admission to a special care nursery/ neonatal intensive care unit .

The review gives implications for future research, suggesting that further evidence may change the results and focus should be given to the impact of midwife continuity of care models on women with social risk factors, those at higher risk of complications, and low- and middle-income countries.

Additionally, a team of researchers at the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Applied Research Collaboration South London, led by Professor Jane Sandall, is carrying out work in this area, exploring the benefits of midwife continuity models for diverse groups of women, including women at risk of preterm birth, and women belonging to ethnic minorities or living in disadvantaged areas.

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A new way to detect radiation involving cheap ceramics

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Jennifer Rupp, Thomas Defferriere, Harry Tuller, and Ju Li pose standing in a lab, with a nuclear radiation warning sign in the background

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The radiation detectors used today for applications like inspecting cargo ships for smuggled nuclear materials are expensive and cannot operate in harsh environments, among other disadvantages. Now, in work funded largely by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security with early support from the U.S. Department of Energy, MIT engineers have demonstrated a fundamentally new way to detect radiation that could allow much cheaper detectors and a plethora of new applications.

They are working with Radiation Monitoring Devices , a company in Watertown, Massachusetts, to transfer the research as quickly as possible into detector products.

In a 2022 paper in Nature Materials , many of the same engineers reported for the first time how ultraviolet light can significantly improve the performance of fuel cells and other devices based on the movement of charged atoms, rather than those atoms’ constituent electrons.

In the current work, published recently in Advanced Materials , the team shows that the same concept can be extended to a new application: the detection of gamma rays emitted by the radioactive decay of nuclear materials.

“Our approach involves materials and mechanisms very different than those in presently used detectors, with potentially enormous benefits in terms of reduced cost, ability to operate under harsh conditions, and simplified processing,” says Harry L. Tuller, the R.P. Simmons Professor of Ceramics and Electronic Materials in MIT’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering (DMSE).

Tuller leads the work with key collaborators Jennifer L. M. Rupp, a former associate professor of materials science and engineering at MIT who is now a professor of electrochemical materials at Technical University Munich in Germany, and Ju Li, the Battelle Energy Alliance Professor in Nuclear Engineering and a professor of materials science and engineering. All are also affiliated with MIT’s Materials Research Laboratory

“After learning the Nature Materials work, I realized the same underlying principle should work for gamma-ray detection — in fact, may work even better than [UV] light because gamma rays are more penetrating — and proposed some experiments to Harry and Jennifer,” says Li.

Says Rupp, “Employing shorter-range gamma rays enable [us] to extend the opto-ionic to a radio-ionic effect by modulating ionic carriers and defects at material interfaces by photogenerated electronic ones.”

Other authors of the Advanced Materials paper are first author Thomas Defferriere, a DMSE postdoc, and Ahmed Sami Helal, a postdoc in MIT’s Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering.

Modifying barriers

Charge can be carried through a material in different ways. We are most familiar with the charge that is carried by the electrons that help make up an atom. Common applications include solar cells. But there are many devices — like fuel cells and lithium batteries — that depend on the motion of the charged atoms, or ions, themselves rather than just their electrons.

The materials behind applications based on the movement of ions, known as solid electrolytes, are ceramics. Ceramics, in turn, are composed of tiny crystallite grains that are compacted and fired at high temperatures to form a dense structure. The problem is that ions traveling through the material are often stymied at the boundaries between the grains.

In their 2022 paper, the MIT team showed that ultraviolet (UV) light shone on a solid electrolyte essentially causes electronic perturbations at the grain boundaries that ultimately lower the barrier that ions encounter at those boundaries. The result: “We were able to enhance the flow of the ions by a factor of three,” says Tuller, making for a much more efficient system.

Vast potential

At the time, the team was excited about the potential of applying what they’d found to different systems. In the 2022 work, the team used UV light, which is quickly absorbed very near the surface of a material. As a result, that specific technique is only effective in thin films of materials. (Fortunately, many applications of solid electrolytes involve thin films.)

Light can be thought of as particles — photons — with different wavelengths and energies. These range from very low-energy radio waves to the very high-energy gamma rays emitted by the radioactive decay of nuclear materials. Visible light — and UV light — are of intermediate energies, and fit between the two extremes.

The MIT technique reported in 2022 worked with UV light. Would it work with other wavelengths of light, potentially opening up new applications? Yes, the team found. In the current paper they show that gamma rays also modify the grain boundaries resulting in a faster flow of ions that, in turn, can be easily detected. And because the high-energy gamma rays penetrate much more deeply than UV light, “this extends the work to inexpensive bulk ceramics in addition to thin films,” says Tuller. It also allows a new application: an alternative approach to detecting nuclear materials.

Today’s state-of-the-art radiation detectors depend on a completely different mechanism than the one identified in the MIT work. They rely on signals derived from electrons and their counterparts, holes, rather than ions. But these electronic charge carriers must move comparatively great distances to the electrodes that “capture” them to create a signal. And along the way, they can be easily lost as they, for example, hit imperfections in a material. That’s why today’s detectors are made with extremely pure single crystals of material that allow an unimpeded path. They can be made with only certain materials and are difficult to process, making them expensive and hard to scale into large devices.

Using imperfections

In contrast, the new technique works because of the imperfections — grains — in the material. “The difference is that we rely on ionic currents being modulated at grain boundaries versus the state-of-the-art that relies on collecting electronic carriers from long distances,” Defferriere says.

Says Rupp, “It is remarkable that the bulk ‘grains’ of the ceramic materials tested revealed high stabilities of the chemistry and structure towards gamma rays, and solely the grain boundary regions reacted in charge redistribution of majority and minority carriers and defects.”

Comments Li, “This radiation-ionic effect is distinct from the conventional mechanisms for radiation detection where electrons or photons are collected. Here, the ionic current is being collected.”

Igor Lubomirsky, a professor in the Department of Materials and Interfaces at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel, who was not involved in the current work, says, “I found the approach followed by the MIT group in utilizing polycrystalline oxygen ion conductors very fruitful given the [materials’] promise for providing reliable operation under irradiation under the harsh conditions expected in nuclear reactors where such detectors often suffer from fatigue and aging. [They also] benefit from much-reduced fabrication costs.”

As a result, the MIT engineers are hopeful that their work could result in new, less expensive detectors. For example, they envision trucks loaded with cargo from container ships driving through a structure that has detectors on both sides as they leave a port. “Ideally, you’d have either an array of detectors or a very large detector, and that’s where [today’s detectors] really don’t scale very well,” Tuller says.

Another potential application involves accessing geothermal energy, or the extreme heat below our feet that is being explored as a carbon-free alternative to fossil fuels. Ceramic sensors at the ends of drill bits could detect pockets of heat — radiation — to drill toward. Ceramics can easily withstand extreme temperatures of more than 800 degrees Fahrenheit and the extreme pressures found deep below the Earth’s surface.

The team is excited about additional applications for their work. “This was a demonstration of principle with just one material,” says Tuller, “but there are thousands of other materials good at conducting ions.”

Concludes Defferriere: “It’s the start of a journey on the development of the technology, so there’s a lot to do and a lot to discover.”

This work is currently supported by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office. This support does not constitute an express or implied endorsement on the part of the government. It was also funded by the U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agency.

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After being insulted, writing down your feelings on paper then getting rid of it reduces anger

A research group in Japan has discovered that writing down one's reaction to a negative incident on a piece of paper and then shredding it or throwing it away reduces feelings of anger.

"We expected that our method would suppress anger to some extent," lead researcher Nobuyuki Kawai said. "However, we were amazed that anger was eliminated almost entirely."

This research is important because controlling anger at home and in the workplace can reduce negative consequences in our jobs and personal lives. Unfortunately, many anger management techniques proposed by specialists lack empirical research support. They can also be difficult to recall when angry.

The results of this study, published in Scientific Reports , are the culmination of years of previous research on the association between the written word and anger reduction. It builds on work showing how interactions with physical objects can control a person's mood.

For their project, Kawai and his graduate student Yuta Kanaya, both at the Graduate School of Informatics, Nagoya University, asked participants to write brief opinions about important social problems, such as whether smoking in public should be outlawed. They then told them that a doctoral student at Nagoya University would evaluate their writing.

However, the doctoral students doing the evaluation were plants. Regardless of what the participants wrote, the evaluators scored them low on intelligence, interest, friendliness, logic, and rationality. To really drive home the point, the doctoral students also wrote the same insulting comment: "I cannot believe an educated person would think like this. I hope this person learns something while at the university."

After handing out these negative comments, the researchers asked the participants to write their thoughts on the feedback, focusing on what triggered their emotions. Finally, one group of participants was told to either dispose of the paper they wrote in a trash can or keep it in a file on their desk. A second group was told to destroy the document in a shredder or put it in a plastic box.

The students were then asked to rate their anger after the insult and after either disposing of or keeping the paper. As expected, all participants reported a higher level of anger after receiving insulting comments. However, the anger levels of the individuals who discarded their paper in the trash can or shredded it returned to their initial state after disposing of the paper. Meanwhile, the participants who held on to a hard copy of the insult experienced only a small decrease in their overall anger.

Kawai imagines using his research to help businesspeople who find themselves in stressful situations. "This technique could be applied in the moment by writing down the source of anger as if taking a memo and then throwing it away when one feels angry in a business situation," he explained.

Along with its practical benefits, this discovery may shed light on the origins of the Japanese cultural tradition known as hakidashisara ( hakidashi refers to the purging or spitting out of something, and sara refers to a dish or plate) at the Hiyoshi shrine in Kiyosu, Aichi Prefecture, just outside of Nagoya. Hakidashisara is an annual festival where people smash small discs representing things that make them angry. Their findings may explain the feeling of relief that participants report after leaving the festival.

Anger Management
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Materials provided by Nagoya University . Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

Journal Reference :

Yuta Kanaya, Nobuyuki Kawai. Anger is eliminated with the disposal of a paper written because of provocation . Scientific Reports , 2024; 14 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-57916-z

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About 1 in 4 u.s. teachers say their school went into a gun-related lockdown in the last school year.

Twenty-five years after the mass shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado , a majority of public K-12 teachers (59%) say they are at least somewhat worried about the possibility of a shooting ever happening at their school. This includes 18% who say they’re extremely or very worried, according to a new Pew Research Center survey.

Pew Research Center conducted this analysis to better understand public K-12 teachers’ views on school shootings, how prepared they feel for a potential active shooter, and how they feel about policies that could help prevent future shootings.

To do this, we surveyed 2,531 U.S. public K-12 teachers from Oct. 17 to Nov. 14, 2023. The teachers are members of RAND’s American Teacher Panel, a nationally representative panel of public school K-12 teachers recruited through MDR Education. Survey data is weighted to state and national teacher characteristics to account for differences in sampling and response to ensure they are representative of the target population.

We also used data from our 2022 survey of U.S. parents. For that project, we surveyed 3,757 U.S. parents with at least one child younger than 18 from Sept. 20 to Oct. 2, 2022. Find more details about the survey of parents here .

Here are the questions used for this analysis , along with responses, and the survey methodology .

Another 31% of teachers say they are not too worried about a shooting occurring at their school. Only 7% of teachers say they are not at all worried.

This survey comes at a time when school shootings are at a record high (82 in 2023) and gun safety continues to be a topic in 2024 election campaigns .

A pie chart showing that a majority of teachers are at least somewhat worried about a shooting occurring at their school.

Teachers’ experiences with lockdowns

A horizontal stacked bar chart showing that about 1 in 4 teachers say their school had a gun-related lockdown last year.

About a quarter of teachers (23%) say they experienced a lockdown in the 2022-23 school year because of a gun or suspicion of a gun at their school. Some 15% say this happened once during the year, and 8% say this happened more than once.

High school teachers are most likely to report experiencing these lockdowns: 34% say their school went on at least one gun-related lockdown in the last school year. This compares with 22% of middle school teachers and 16% of elementary school teachers.

Teachers in urban schools are also more likely to say that their school had a gun-related lockdown. About a third of these teachers (31%) say this, compared with 19% of teachers in suburban schools and 20% in rural schools.

Do teachers feel their school has prepared them for an active shooter?

About four-in-ten teachers (39%) say their school has done a fair or poor job providing them with the training and resources they need to deal with a potential active shooter.

A bar chart showing that 3 in 10 teachers say their school has done an excellent or very good job preparing them for an active shooter.

A smaller share (30%) give their school an excellent or very good rating, and another 30% say their school has done a good job preparing them.

Teachers in urban schools are the least likely to say their school has done an excellent or very good job preparing them for a potential active shooter. About one-in-five (21%) say this, compared with 32% of teachers in suburban schools and 35% in rural schools.

Teachers who have police officers or armed security stationed in their school are more likely than those who don’t to say their school has done an excellent or very good job preparing them for a potential active shooter (36% vs. 22%).

Overall, 56% of teachers say they have police officers or armed security stationed at their school. Majorities in rural schools (64%) and suburban schools (56%) say this, compared with 48% in urban schools.

Only 3% of teachers say teachers and administrators at their school are allowed to carry guns in school. This is slightly more common in school districts where a majority of voters cast ballots for Donald Trump in 2020 than in school districts where a majority of voters cast ballots for Joe Biden (5% vs. 1%).

What strategies do teachers think could help prevent school shootings?

A bar chart showing that 69% of teachers say better mental health treatment would be highly effective in preventing school shootings.

The survey also asked teachers how effective some measures would be at preventing school shootings.

Most teachers (69%) say improving mental health screening and treatment for children and adults would be extremely or very effective.

About half (49%) say having police officers or armed security in schools would be highly effective, while 33% say the same about metal detectors in schools.

Just 13% say allowing teachers and school administrators to carry guns in schools would be extremely or very effective at preventing school shootings. Seven-in-ten teachers say this would be not too or not at all effective.

How teachers’ views differ by party

A dot plot showing that teachers’ views of strategies to prevent school shootings differ by political party.

Republican and Republican-leaning teachers are more likely than Democratic and Democratic-leaning teachers to say each of the following would be highly effective:

Having police officers or armed security in schools (69% vs. 37%)
Having metal detectors in schools (43% vs. 27%)
Allowing teachers and school administrators to carry guns in schools (28% vs. 3%)

And while majorities in both parties say improving mental health screening and treatment would be highly effective at preventing school shootings, Democratic teachers are more likely than Republican teachers to say this (73% vs. 66%).

Parents’ views on school shootings and prevention strategies

In fall 2022, we asked parents a similar set of questions about school shootings.

Roughly a third of parents with K-12 students (32%) said they were extremely or very worried about a shooting ever happening at their child’s school. An additional 37% said they were somewhat worried.

As is the case among teachers, improving mental health screening and treatment was the only strategy most parents (63%) said would be extremely or very effective at preventing school shootings. And allowing teachers and school administrators to carry guns in schools was seen as the least effective – in fact, half of parents said this would be not too or not at all effective. This question was asked of all parents with a child younger than 18, regardless of whether they have a child in K-12 schools.

Like teachers, parents’ views on strategies for preventing school shootings differed by party.

Note: Here are the questions used for this analysis , along with responses, and the survey methodology .

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Among many u.s. children, reading for fun has become less common, federal data shows, most european students learn english in school, for u.s. teens today, summer means more schooling and less leisure time than in the past, about one-in-six u.s. teachers work second jobs – and not just in the summer, most popular.

About Pew Research Center Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. Pew Research Center does not take policy positions. It is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts .

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3052 PDFs
Feb 2022. [...] Explore the latest full-text research PDFs, articles, conference papers, preprints and more on MIDWIFERY RESEARCH. Find methods information, sources, references or conduct a ...
Midwifery Dissertation Topics
Topic:1 Adolescence care. Research Aim: Focus on comprehensive medical, psychological, physical, and mental health assessments to provide a better quality of care to patients. Topic:2 Alcohol Abuse. Topic:3 Birth Planning. Topic:4 Community midwifery.
Journal of Midwifery & Women's Health
The Journal of Midwifery & Women's Health (JMWH) is the official journal of the American College of Nurse-Midwives.Within a culture of inclusion and antiracism, JMWH advocates for health equity, access to quality care for all persons, and excellence in midwifery.Articles published in JMWH include new research and current knowledge across a broad range of clinical and interprofessional topics ...
British Journal of Midwifery
British Journal of Midwifery (BJM) is the leading clinical journal for midwives, promoting excellence in midwifery and women's health. ... Topics Topics. A Mother's ... (Stern et al, 2014) was used to identify key words and develop the research question: what can midwives in England learn from studies exploring the experiences of autistic women ...
Selected Topics in Midwifery Care
Selected Topics in Midwifery Care. Edited by: Ana Polona Mivšek. ISBN 978-1-78985-533-3, eISBN 978-1-78985-534-0, PDF ISBN 978-1-83962-033-1, Published 2019-02-08 ... By making research easy to access, and puts the academic needs of the researchers before the business interests of publishers.
An integrative review of supportive relationships between
1. INTRODUCTION. A key aspect of maternity care is a supportive relationship between the child‐bearing woman and her midwife or maternity nurse—the quality of this relationship is pivotal to safe maternity care and improving the woman′s experience (Agostini et al., 2015 ). Child‐bearing experiences can vary greatly among women.
Public health interventions in midwifery: a systematic review of
This paper presents an update of a systematic review of systematic reviews conducted in 2009. The aim of the 2009 review was to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions relevant to the public health role of the midwife. The 2009 review was commissioned and conducted within the context of the Midwifery 2020 initiative.
European Journal of Midwifery
Submit your paper Instructions to Authors Home Most read. Month ... Topics index. Authors index. eISSN: 2585-2906: Under the auspices of the Hellenic Midwives Association Published by European Publishing. Science and Technology Park of Crete (STEP-C). Vassilika Vouton, ...
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Midwifery research is often dichotomised by the development status of the jurisdiction of focus — high-income countries (HICs) compared to low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). ... Of the non-research documents, 8 were theoretical papers, 7 were reviews (non-systematic), 4 were 'other' (e.g. World Health Assembly resolutions, toolkits ...
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1. Discuss how research is a fundamental component of midwifery education and practice. 2. Consider why a gap persists between dissemination of research and implementation of the findings and how this could be addressed. 3. Describe the ways in which research evidence is obtained. 4.
Maternal outcomes and birth interventions among women who begin labour
16 studies provided data from ~500,000 intended home births for the meta-analyses. There were no reported maternal deaths. When controlling for parity in well-integrated settings we found women intending to give birth at home compared to hospital were less likely to experience: caesarean section OR 0.58(0.44,0.77); operative vaginal birth OR 0.42(0.23,0.76); epidural analgesia OR 0.30(0.24,0. ...
Midwives' use of best available evidence in practice: An integrative
In paper three, Veeramah (2016a, p. 346) confirmed EBP to be a valuable element of midwifery care and important in the "daily practice of nurses and midwives". The issue of non-evidentiary-based care was discussed by Toolhill et al. ( 2017 ), who stated "the cost of [unjustified] interventions are considerable and difficult to justify".
A critical interpretive synthesis of the roles of midwives in health
Research on midwifery care has demonstrated that the profession delivers high-quality SRHR services [1,2,3]. ... Given the lack of theoretical development in the area, this paper, through a critical interpretive synthesis of the available literature, identifies the factors that act as barriers or facilitators to the roles of midwives. ...
The Handbook of Midwifery Research
Research is a fundamental part of midwifery practice. However, not everyone finds it easy to understand the basic principles, and particularly the language of research. This accessible handbook enables midwives and student midwives to firstly understand how to search and make sense of research evidence, how to write a research proposal and finally how to undertake a research study.
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A List Of Potential Dissertation Topics In Midwifery: Investigating the impact of COVID-19 on midwifery education and training. The effect of midwifery-led care on reducing interventions in birth. Understanding the role of midwives in addressing birth disparities among minority women.
The quantification of midwifery research: Limiting midwifery knowledge
As two academics researching in the area of maternal health, we are increasingly concerned with what we see as a positivist turn in midwifery research. In this paper, we examine this idea of the quantification of midwifery research, using as an example the current esteem given to the systematic literature review, and its creep into other ...
Midwifery Dissertation Topics List (30 Examples) For Your Research
Topic With Mini-Proposal (Paid Service) Undergraduate: £30 (250 Words) Master: £45 (400 Words) Doctoral: £70 (600 Words) Along with a topic, you will also get; An explanation why we choose this topic. 2-3 research questions. Key literature resources identification. Suitable methodology with identification of raw sample size, and data ...
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22 Trending Midwifery Dissertation Topics for Students. We understand how difficult it is to research a suitable topic for academic dissertation writing. Keeping that in mind, we have asked our team of professional writers with years of experience to create some of the most sensible midwifery dissertation topics UK with the help of trends ...
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Background . The ICM International Code of Ethics for Midwives (2014) states that "Midwives use up-to-date, evidence-based professional knowledge to ensure safe birthing practices in all environments and cultures (maintain competence)", and that "Midwives develop and share midwifery knowledge through a variety of processes, such as peer review and research".
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The ICM strongly recommends involvement of midwives in research to provide high quality midwifery services . This study was conducted to assess clinical midwife's engagement on research and associated factors in Northwest Ethiopia. ... All relevant data are within the paper and its Supporting information files. References. 1. Dimova S ...
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Nursing and Midwifery Research Papers/Topics Coping Mechanisms for Clients with Fertility Challenges Attending Obstetrical and Gynaecological Clinic in Isth, Irrua, Edo State, Nigeria This study was on coping strategies of clients with fertility challenges attending Obstetric and Gynecological clinic of Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital Irrua ...
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In the current paper they show that gamma rays also modify the grain boundaries resulting in a faster flow of ions that, in turn, can be easily detected. And because the high-energy gamma rays penetrate much more deeply than UV light, "this extends the work to inexpensive bulk ceramics in addition to thin films," says Tuller.
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Here are six key facts about Americans and TikTok, drawn from Pew Research Center surveys. A third of U.S. adults - including a majority of adults under 30 - use TikTok. Around six-in-ten U.S. adults under 30 (62%) say they use TikTok, compared with 39% of those ages 30 to 49, 24% of those 50 to 64, and 10% of those 65 and older. In a 2023 ...
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Major problems at school. When we asked teachers about a range of problems that may affect students who attend their school, the following issues top the list: Poverty (53% say this is a major problem at their school) Chronic absenteeism - that is, students missing a substantial number of school days (49%) Anxiety and depression (48%) One-in ...
About 1 in 4 public school teachers experienced a ...
Research Topics . Topics. ... (82 in 2023) and gun safety continues to be a topic in 2024 election campaigns. Teachers' experiences with lockdowns. About a quarter of teachers (23%) say they experienced a lockdown in the 2022-23 school year because of a gun or suspicion of a gun at their school. Some 15% say this happened once during the year ...

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Midwifery Dissertation Topics With Research Aim

Topic:2 Alcohol Abuse

Topic:3 Birth Planning

Topic:4 Community midwifery

Topic:5 Contraception

Topic:6 Electronic fetal monitoring

Topic:7 Family planning

Topic:8 Foetal and newborn care

Topic:9 Foetal well being

Topic:10 Gender-based violence

Topic:11 Health promotion

Topic:12 High-risk pregnancy

Topic:13 HIV infection

Topic:14 Human Rights

Topic:15 Infection prevention and control

Topic:16 Infertility and pregnancy

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