CQUniversity
Browse

The parents are watching: Midwifery students’ perceptions of how workplace bullying impacts mothers and babies

journal contribution
posted on 2021-10-18, 00:15 authored by Tanya CapperTanya Capper, Olav MuurlinkOlav Muurlink, Moira WilliamsonMoira Williamson
Problem: Bullying in the midwifery profession has been documented and the problem is now known to extend to the poor treatment of midwifery students. In nursing, research has shown that bullying in the clinical workplace can adversely impact on quality of care. To date, no research has explored whether the bullying of midwifery students has secondary impacts on the experiences and care of mothers, babies, and their support persons. Aim: To examine how midwifery students, who self-identify as having been bullied, perceive the repercussions on women and their families. Methods: This qualitative descriptive study explored 120 Australian and United Kingdom (UK) based midwifery students. Data were collected using an anonymous online qualitative survey and were thematically analysed. Findings: The findings suggest that the bullying of midwifery students impacts women and their families in a number of ways. Midwifery students perceive that mothers and babies are frequently implicated either directly or indirectly in the enactment of bullying. This can impact their safety, fractures relationships, and impairs the women's confidence in the student and the profession. Students additionally reported that women and/or their support persons can feel compelled to step in to defend and protect the student. Conclusions: The bullying of midwifery students is perceived to place women at risk, in uncomfortable situations, damage rapport and undermines their confidence in students and the profession. This also impacts adversely on the student's ability to provide women centred care as they lose confidence in front of the woman and her family when they are bullied by registered midwives.

History

Volume

103

Start Page

1

End Page

6

Number of Pages

6

eISSN

1532-3099

ISSN

0266-6138

Publisher

Elsevier

Language

en

Peer Reviewed

  • Yes

Open Access

  • No

Acceptance Date

2021-09-05

Era Eligible

  • Yes

Journal

Midwifery

Article Number

103144

Usage metrics

    CQUniversity

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC