R Mander1. 1. Department of Nursing Studies, University of Edinburgh, Adam Ferguson Building, 40 George Square, Edinburgh, EH8 9LL. R.Mander@ed.ac.uk
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: to identify the meaning of the death of a mother to the midwife providing care for her. DESIGN: a qualitative study in which the fieldwork comprised mainly semistructured telephone interviews. Data were also collected by letters and e-mail correspondence. SETTING: the midwife informants are based in the UK. PARTICIPANTS: because of the sensitive nature of the topic, a volunteer sample of midwives who had 'experienced' the death of a mother was appropriate. Further 'non-experienced' midwives were recruited using a snowball technique. FINDINGS: the midwife's experience of the death of a mother is comparable with that of emergency personnel attending large-scale disasters. It features images intruding, identifying with those involved, encountering death and being unprepared. KEY CONCLUSIONS: the midwife faces a number of psychological challenges following the death of a mother, which justify this event being considered as a disaster. The findings of implications for practice: this study suggests that there may be a need for cultural change among midwives. It is possible that changes in midwifery education and in the midwife's continuing education may facilitate this. Copyright 2001 Harcourt Publishers Ltd.
OBJECTIVE: to identify the meaning of the death of a mother to the midwife providing care for her. DESIGN: a qualitative study in which the fieldwork comprised mainly semistructured telephone interviews. Data were also collected by letters and e-mail correspondence. SETTING: the midwife informants are based in the UK. PARTICIPANTS: because of the sensitive nature of the topic, a volunteer sample of midwives who had 'experienced' the death of a mother was appropriate. Further 'non-experienced' midwives were recruited using a snowball technique. FINDINGS: the midwife's experience of the death of a mother is comparable with that of emergency personnel attending large-scale disasters. It features images intruding, identifying with those involved, encountering death and being unprepared. KEY CONCLUSIONS: the midwife faces a number of psychological challenges following the death of a mother, which justify this event being considered as a disaster. The findings of implications for practice: this study suggests that there may be a need for cultural change among midwives. It is possible that changes in midwifery education and in the midwife's continuing education may facilitate this. Copyright 2001 Harcourt Publishers Ltd.