Termination Laws in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand - Do They Align with Midwives' Scope of Practice?

This article examines whether the current termination laws of Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand align with the midwifery scope of practice. It begins with an introduction to termination of pregnancy from a health care perspective. An overview of previous and current legal frameworks in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand that impact upon the provision of termination of pregnancy health services is provided.

Exploring Emotional Well-Being and Support of Midwives Who Provide Termination of Pregnancy Care: An International Survey.

Aims: Assess the psychological impact that providing TOP care beyond 12 weeks gestation has on midwives in Australia and New Zealand, improve understanding of TOP care and explore what support midwives have and what they might need to deal with their work experiences.

Design: Online survey.

Methods: A web-based, self-reported questionnaire with a total of 63 questions collected data from June to October 2022.

Attuning to the World of Peace of Mind and Trust: Women's Lived Experience of the Woman-Midwife Relationship in Japan.

In Japan, many pregnant women and mothers suffer from anxiety, depression, and other postnatal issues that can be exacerbated by their birth experiences. While benefiting from advanced medical care, these women's mental and psychological health may be disregarded in their maternity care. Midwives have the potential to play a significant role in improving women's birth experiences.

Midwifery care for late termination of pregnancy: Integrative review.

Midwives provide reproductive healthcare to women, including during termination of pregnancy (TOP) after 12 weeks (late TOP). Their expertise, knowledge and woman-centred care approach sees them ideally placed for this role. However, the medical, social and emotional complexities of late TOP can cause midwives significant distress.

Seeking a connection: Women's lived experience of the woman-midwife relationship in mainstream maternity services in Japan.

Problem: In Japan, women continue to suffer from mental health and other postpartum issues despite good clinical outcomes of maternity care.

Background: As key care providers, midwives potentially affect women's overall birth experience. Most women in Japan give birth in hospitals or obstetric clinics where different midwives and nurses provide one woman with fragmented care.

Midwife led randomised controlled trials in Australia and New Zealand: A scoping review.

Background: Midwives are the largest workforce involved in caring for pregnant women and their babies, and are well placed to translate research into practice and ensure midwifery priorities are appropriately targeted in researched. Currently, the number and focus of randomised controlled trials led by midwives in Australia and New Zealand is unknown. The Australasian Nursing and Midwifery Clinical Trials Network was established in 2020 to build nursing and midwifery research capacity.

The un-silencing of Japanese women's voices in maternity care: A hermeneutic phenomenological study of the woman-midwife relationship.

Objective: The purpose of this article is to understand the meaning of the woman-midwife relationship, with the overall aim to improve maternity care and women's birth experiences in Japan. To better understand the meaning of the woman-midwife relationship, this article presents women's and midwives' experiences of having or not having a voice in maternity care.

Research Design: Hermeneutic phenomenology, as described by Max van Manen, helped to uncover the meaning of the phenomenon-the woman-midwife relationship-through participants' lived experience.

A historical narrative of the development of midwifery education in Indonesia.

Aim: To describe the history of midwifery education, present the current education programmes and explore the ways that have been undertaken to advance the midwifery profession in Indonesia.

Methods: Historical and contemporary government documents were reviewed.

Findings: The history of midwifery education in Indonesia shows a complex picture during and since colonisation with government, education institutes and association proposing different ways in which midwives were to be educated.

The interplay of structural and external factors for strengthening midwifery education in Indonesia.

Objectives: This study aimed to identify the barriers to and enablers of the strengthening of midwifery education in Indonesia. Indonesia has a long history of midwifery education. In 1996, midwifery education in Indonesia had a three-year direct-entry pathway leading to a higher education level to meet international standards.

New Zealand maternity and midwifery services and the COVID-19 response: A systematic scoping review.

Problem: COVID-19 guidance from professional and health organisations created uncertainty leading to professional and personal stress impacting on midwives providing continuity of care in New Zealand (NZ). The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in massive amounts of international and national information and guidance. This guidance was often conflicting and not suited to New Zealand midwifery.

When Maintaining Relationships and Social Connectivity Matter: The Case of New Zealand Midwives and COVID-19.

New Zealand's response to COVID-19 was go hard and go early into Level 4 lockdown on 25 March 2020. This rapid response has resulted in low rates of infection and deaths. For New Zealand midwives, the sudden changes to how they work with women and families during pregnancy, birth and postnatally, especially in the community, required unprecedented innovation and adaptation.

Strengthening midwifery education through clinical experience: Findings from a qualitative study in Indonesia.

Background: One of the Indonesian Government's strategies to reduce maternal mortality rates has been to place a midwife in every village to provide midwifery care and facilitate essential primary healthcare services. To increase the numbers of midwives, the Indonesian Government began opening midwifery schools. However, Indonesia's maternal mortality rates remained high.

Midwives holding the space for women undergoing termination of pregnancy: A qualitative inquiry.

Problem: Hospital midwives are the main care givers for women undergoing termination of pregnancy after 20 weeks. Midwives' role and potential impact of regular involvement in termination of pregnancy (TOP) are poorly understood.

Setting: New Zealand.

Midwifery Job Autonomy in New Zealand: I do it all the time.

Introduction: This research aimed to identify what supports and what hinders job autonomy for midwives in New Zealand.

Methods: Registered midwives participated in an open-ended, online survey in 2019. Anonymised participants were asked to describe an incident when they felt they were using their professional judgement and/or initiative to make decisions and the resultant actions.

Identifying the priorities for midwifery education across Australia and New Zealand: A Delphi study.

Problem: In countries where education programmes are assessed as meeting international standards there is limited knowledge about the challenges facing midwifery education.

Background/aim: The positive impact of quality midwifery education on maternal and newborn health is acknowledged by the World Health Organisation. However, there is limited research identifying the issues faced in providing quality midwifery education.

Acknowledging the primacy of continuity of care experiences in midwifery education.

Background: Continuity of midwifery care is the best maternity care model for women at any risk level, and there is a global imperative to improve access to midwifery-led care. However, diverse perspectives about how best to prepare graduates for working in midwifery continuity of care models persist. The continuity of care experience standard in Australia was anticipated to address this.

'Living the rural experience-preparation for practice': The future proofing of sustainable rural midwifery practice through midwifery education.

Rural practice presents unique challenges and skill requirements for midwives. New Zealand and Scotland face similar challenges in sustaining a rural midwifery workforce. This paper draws from an international multi-centre study exploring rural midwifery to focus on the education needs of student midwives within pre-registration midwifery programmes in order to determine appropriate preparation for rural practice.

Joys and challenges of relationships in Scotland and New Zealand rural midwifery: A multicentre study.

Background: Globally there are challenges meeting the recruitment and retention needs for rural midwifery. Rural practice is not usually recognised as important and feelings of marginalisation amongst this workforce are apparent. Relationships are interwoven throughout midwifery and are particularly evident in rural settings.

A woman's hand and a lion's heart: Skills and attributes for rural midwifery practice in New Zealand and Scotland.

Objective: the complex and challenging nature of rural midwifery is a global issue. New Zealand and Scotland both face similar ongoing challenges in sustaining a rural midwifery workforce, and understanding the best preparation for rural midwifery practice. This study aimed to explore the range of skills, qualities and professional expertise needed for remote and rural midwifery practice.

A mixed-method evaluation of a New Zealand based midwifery education development unit.

The Midwifery Development Education Service was established in the Birthing Unit at Middlemore Hospital in South Auckland New Zealand in 2007. The service is unique in the New Zealand midwifery context for the way it operates as a collaboration between the education and health provider to optimise the clinical learning experience of student midwives. This paper reports on the evaluation of the Midwifery Development Education Service that was undertaken in 2015.

Sustainability and resilience in midwifery: A discussion paper.

Background: midwifery workforce issues are of international concern. Sustainable midwifery practice, and how resilience is a required quality for midwives, have begun to be researched. How these concepts are helpful to midwifery continues to be debated.