RM, Master of Science (MSc) in Midwifery
Aleksandra Storm
Region Sønderjylland
| Project management | ||
| Project status | Open | |
| Data collection dates | ||
| Start | 01.11.2023 | |
| End | 31.10.2024 | |
Understanding midwifery work satisfaction and work motivation in a medium size hospital in Denmark - an interview study
Short summary
Midwives globally report a challenging work environment, with increasing levels of burnout, low work satisfaction and insufficient work resources. Increasing medicalisation of maternity care and women with more complex health and social needs are just some of the challenges midwives face today. Much of the literature focuses on reasons for retention in midwifery. However, there is a gap in understanding what motivates midwives to stay in the profession and what provides work satisfaction.
Rationale
Attracting and retaining midwives poses an increasing problem for maternity units in Denmark and internationally. Maternity care in hospitals is highly dependent on one specific profession and difficult to replace with other health care professionals. In 2006, the World Health Organization (WHO) expressed concern about midwifery retention, and despite the effort to implement change, retention continues to be problematic. In 2021, WHO introduced an interrelated set of policy priorities (Global Strategic Directions for Nursing and Midwifery (SDNM)) 2021-2025, to ensure midwives contribute optimally to universal health coverage (UHC). It is still formally acknowledged that the retention of midwives, is a worldwide issue, despite efforts to implement change, including the WHO resolution to strengthen the quality midwifery (WHA 64,7). In Denmark, the recruitment and retention of midwives is a problem. A study from the Danish Midwifery Union reported that more than a third of midwives educated in 2015 and 2016 had left their jobs in the maternity ward. After graduation, midwives tend to have approximately three years on a ward before moving on to other jobs or functions. However, there does not appear to be a problem recruiting midwifery students. Although several studies explore the reasons behind retention, none originate from Denmark . Several of these international findings correlate low midwifery retention with various interrelated working conditions, including low staffing, high workload, low support from colleagues, lack of continuity of carer, challenging clinical situations and low clinical autonomy . In a study exploring the prevalence of burnout, depression, anxiety and stress among midwives, Vaičienė et al. reported that increased awareness of the pressure faced by healthcare workers in general impacts long-term workforce planning. The Danish Midwifery Union has reported of business, overtime work, many night shifts, unpredictability and underpayment as contributors to dissatisfaction. Little is known about what increases work motivation and satisfaction. Investigating midwifery from a salutogenic perspective will enable an exploration of what creates work satisfaction rather than what hinders it. Exploring work satisfaction and motivational factors among midwives can potentially influence commitment, subjective well-being, workforce retention and work performance. Therefore, understanding the variables that impact work satisfaction is crucial to develop a strategic plan to enhance satisfaction. This is especially interesting in Sygehus Sønderjylland, where retention of midwives do not yet pose a challenge. Research has suggested that focusing on work satisfaction makes a valuable difference in retaining a qualified workforce. In addition, according to the Transactional Model of Quality of Life, focusing on relations between attitudes and antecedents is a part of subjective well-being. Professional recognition, decision-making, autonomy, meaningfulness and empowerment are positively linked to job satisfaction. Interestingly, lack of work satisfaction has been identified as the number one cause of the problems with midwifery workforce retention. Therefore, exploring work satisfaction and work motivation is a critical step in developing strategies to keep midwives in the profession and prevent midwifery shortages.
Description of the cohort
The project is a qualitative interview study. The principles of hermeneutic phenomenology will be applied to the study. A phenomenological approach enables methods studying an individual´s lived experiences within the world. According to Mantzoukas (2004), the researcher's goal in qualitative research is to investigate and get an in-depth understanding of participants' views, experiences and attitudes regarding a phenomenon. The qualitative researcher attempts to create a deeper, more complete and more elaborate understanding of the phenomenon under investigation, which will contain a holistic and deeper interpretation of the participants and their environment in relation to the research phenomenon. Qualitative interviews will generate in-depth, individual knowledge from midwives to understand their work experience and environment. We aim to obtain knowledge of individual experiences and working force dynamics from two medium size maternity wards in Denmark.
Collaborating researchers and departments
Aabenraa og Esbjerg Sygehus