Slovenian midwifery professionalization: Perception of midwives and related health professions

Abstract

INTRODUCTION This article presents research into the professionalization of midwifery in Slovenia. Since recognition by related occupations is important for professions, this comparative study asked doctors and nurses in Slovenia about their perceptions of the status of midwifery. METHODS A questionnaire survey was conducted with 300 Slovenian midwives, 666 nurses and 416 obstetricians. The questionnaire included statements covering traditional sociological notions of the profession (ethics, theory, power), and three notions based on new elements of professionalism (reflective practice, interdisciplinary working, and partnership with clients). RESULTS Findings suggest that nurses perceived themselves to be less autonomous than midwives, and this partly explains why most nurses thought that midwifery should be a specialized course of study, after the general nursing diploma. Obstetricians claimed to support midwives, however, they did not give midwives credit for basic midwifery competencies and did not feel midwifery to be equal to their profession. Midwives revealed not to feel autonomous; they felt that nursing and obstetrics is jeopardizing independent midwifery practice. CONCLUSIONS Slovenian midwifery was poorly evaluated in some attributes of professionalism, especially knowledge and autonomy. Even midwives themselves consider midwifery more occupation than profession. The autonomy of midwifery will be hard to achieve in the institutions of medical dominance. The study revealed that participants of all three groups are in a competitive relation and are poorly aware of the roles and competencies of the other two professions. Therefore, partially joined education might be beneficial in order to promote interprofessional collaboration in the future.

Knowledge of women in Poland on the profession and competences of a midwife

“…The Regulation of the Minister of Labour and Social Policy on the Classification of Professions and Specialties classifies midwives into the category of ‘specialists’ regardless of whether they have reached the highest education level 19 . A study by Mivsek et al 20 confirmed that the awareness of the rank of the profession had a positive impact on cooperation and relations between professions.…”

Defining midwifery autonomy in Belgium: Consensus of a modified Delphi study

“…Conversely in Flanders and the Netherlands, midwifery education have identified professional autonomy as an essential part of additional advanced professional skills (Mestdagh et al, 2019). As maternity care HPs are poorly aware of each other's competencies, (Mivšek et al, 2021) recommend interprofessional education to promote interdisciplinary collaboration in maternity care while retaining autonomy within each profession.…”

How Do Midwives View Their Professional Autonomy, Now and in Future?

“…Additionally, their influence on healthcare systems and policymaking raised further considerations [ 8 ]. Midwives’ professional autonomy seems to be particularly limited and they face barriers in fulfilling a comprehensive role as legally defined by the European Directives on the scope of midwifery in Europe [ 9 ]. Midwifery autonomy, a cornerstone of professional practice, has been almost completely relinquished within obstetric-led care in some countries [ 10 ].…”

“…Interprofessional collaboration is only possible when the different professionals respect each other and are in equal positions. In Slovenia, for example, midwives, nurses and obstetricians are poorly aware of each other’s roles and competencies, and obstetricians do not recognize midwives as autonomous professionals for normal pregnancy, birth and postpartum [ 9 ]. A study exploring interprofessional collaboration between midwives and obstetricians in hospitals in Canada demonstrated willingness from the obstetricians to work collaboratively with midwives.…”