Increasing midwives’ ethical competence: a European educational and practice development project

Oelhafen, Stephan; Hölzli Reid, Ursula; Häsänen, Marjatta; Kärema, Annely; Kasemets, Minni-Triin; Bartels, Irena; Leberecht, Aet Maarja; Kauppila, Marjo; Järvilehto-Impivaara, Irmeli; Berglund, Mari (2017). Increasing midwives’ ethical competence: a European educational and practice development project International Journal of Ethics Education, 2(2), pp. 147-160. Springer 10.1007/s40889-017-0033-3

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Midwives, like other health professionals, are confronted with ethical issues on a daily basis and acting ethically is a core competence within professional conduct. In midwifery in particular, the complexity of ethical problems is increasing e.g., due to new medical options in diagnostics and reproductive medicine, the increasing diversity of life styles or the high number of preterm births. The main purpose of the current project was to develop effective interventions to increase midwives’ ethical competence in educational and practical settings. To reach this goal, we conducted 43 individual semi-structured and 6 focus group interviews with midwives, lecturers and midwifery students to explore their views on ethics education and the support needed in practice to develop ethical competence. Based on the analysis of these interviews, a set of 15 interventions was designed and piloted in educational and clinical settings. The piloted interventions were then evaluated with an online questionnaire. Results from the interviews, the online questionnaire as well as the lessons learnt from piloting the interventions and the current literature on ethics education were integrated in a spiral curricular model for increasing midwives’ ethical competence. This model, called MidEthics, covers essential competences for midwives to be obtained in training and in clinical practice, and should inform curriculum development and policy makers.

Item Type:	Journal Article (Original Article)
Division/Institute:	School of Health Professions School of Health Professions > Midwifery
Name:	Oelhafen, Stephan0000-0002-4238-6728; Hölzli Reid, Ursula; Häsänen, Marjatta; Kärema, Annely; Kasemets, Minni-Triin; Bartels, Irena; Leberecht, Aet Maarja; Kauppila, Marjo; Järvilehto-Impivaara, Irmeli and Berglund, Mari
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BJ Ethics L Education > LB Theory and practice of education > LB2300 Higher Education L Education > LB Theory and practice of education > LB2361 Curriculum R Medicine > RG Gynecology and obstetrics
ISSN:	2363-9997
Publisher:	Springer
Funders:	[UNSPECIFIED] Lifelong Learning Programme of the European Union (Project Code 540082-LLP-1-2013-1-FI-ERASMUS-EQR)
Language:	English
Submitter:	Stephan Oelhafen
Date Deposited:	09 Dec 2020 12:48
Last Modified:	25 Oct 2021 02:18
Publisher DOI:	10.1007/s40889-017-0033-3
ARBOR DOI:	10.24451/arbor.13477
URI:	https://arbor.bfh.ch/id/eprint/13477