A literature review was undertaken to determine any consistencies or inconsistencies in the literature, identify any gaps or flaws in research available and consider recommendations for clinical practice and future research. The review aims to be unbiased. When the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) launched the ‘Campaign for Normal Birth’ in 2005, one of the first issues to be considered by the s...

Mothers and midwives who had participated in the Bristol randomized controlled trial of active versus physiologic management of the Third Stage of Labor were asked for their views. One hundred ninety-one mothers (11% of the total randomized) and 49 midwives completed self-administered questionnaires. Both mothers and midwives commented adversely about the length of the third stage under physiol...

This study developed and tested a theoretical model that explains the underlying process through which the use of cell phones can facilitate the capacity of community health care workers in developing regions. On the basis of a study conducted on 223 midwives in rural regions of Indonesia, the results showed that cell phone use was positively associated with midwives' access to institutional an...

Last week, we explored women's views of whether birthplans empower them in the birth process. This week, the second half of the study is presented. It explored the perceptions of empowerment from ten midwives, using the birthplan as a tool. Data were collected by semi-structured interviews. The findings indicated that several factors could disempower the women as well as the midwives. For women...

Greater understanding of midwives’ emotion work could potentially improve practitioner/client and collegial relationships, and inform future organisation and delivery of maternity care. However, midwives’ emotion work remains relatively unrecognised and under-investigated. Drawing on a previous paper (Hunter, 2001), I contrast previous and current knowledge in the field. Four key areas appear s...