An exploration of the enactment of midwifery led care version 1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
An exploration of midwives’ enactment of the defining attributes of midwifery led care in midwifery led intrapartum settings.
IRAS ID
170791
Contact name
Deborah Caine
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of East Anglia (UEA)
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 8 months, 0 days
Research summary
The proposed study seeks to answer the question 'How are the defining attributes of midwifery led care enacted in intrapartum midwifery led settings'.
In the UK, most women receive care in labour (intrapartum care) by a midwife, in a variety of different places or birth settings. Where women are considered to be at low risk of having medical or obstetric complications, and a straightforward birth is expected, the main or lead professional responsible for providing care is usually a midwife. This midwifery led care can take place in a hospital labour ward, a midwifery led unit away from a hospital site (freestanding midwifery unit, FMU), a midwifery led unit that is attached to a hospital site (alongside midwifery unit, AMU), or at a woman's home. There is increasing provision of midwifery led AMU birth settings (Redshawe and Rowe et al, 2011), and recent national guidance has supported women having a increased opportunities to give birth away from obstetric and often medically led hospitals (NICE, 2014) if they meet certain criteria. This study seeks to deepen the understanding of midwifery led care in an AMU and FMU by exploring the ways midwives practice in these setting. The practices midwives adopt in these care settings for example, how they communicate with women, how decisions about women's' care are made, and the different techniques used by midwives to facilitate birth, will be studied by non participant observation of up to 6 hours of a woman's birth. Follow up interviews with the midwives providing care will also take place so that any questions arising from the observations can be addressed and so that midwives can provide their insights into the phenomena being studied.REC name
London - Queen Square Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/LO/1248
Date of REC Opinion
26 Oct 2015
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion