Norwegian midwives' perceptions of their practice environment: A mixed methods study

AbstractAimTo investigate Norwegian midwives ’ perceptions of their working environment.DesignA nationwide postal survey in 2014 collected information from 489 midwives, including the Practice Environment Scale and seven open ‐ended questions concerning the workplace.MethodsPsychometric ‐, descriptive‐ and comparative analysis was used for the quantitative data and content analysis for the qualitative data.ResultsPsychometric analyses yielded five subscales:Quality of management; Resource adequacy; Midwife ‐doctor relations; Opportunities for development; andMidwifery foundation for care. Content analyses identified four main themes:Lack of resources; Insufficient support; Staying in midwifery; andLack of influence. Subthemes only found in the qualitative analysis were as follows:Fear of adverse events andThe strain of shift work. Most midwives rated the PES subscalesMidwife ‐doctor relations andQuality of management favourable. In contrast, the themeLack of influence showed that midwives felt powerless in a constantly changing work environment and ruled by the medical model of care.

Source: Nursing Open - August 5, 2019 Category: Nursing Authors: Mirjam Lukasse, Lena Henriksen Tags: RESEARCH ARTICLE Source Type: research