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EUROPEAN JOURNAL
OF MIDWIFERY

ISSN (electronic): 2585-2906

7th EMA
Education
Conference

Athens - Greece

26th-29th
OCTOBER
2023

ABSTRACT BOOK

EUROPEAN PUBLISHING

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EUROPEAN MIDWIVES
ASSOCIATION

Conference Secretariat:

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PROOPSIS
Consulting S.A.
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EUROPEAN JOURNAL
OF MIDWIFERY
## Aim & Scope

The European Journal of Midwifery (Abbr: Eur J Midwifery; ISSN: 2585-2906) is an open access and double-blind peer-reviewed scientific journal, that encompasses all aspects of the practice of midwifery, especially focused on midwifery research, support, care and advice during pregnancy, labour and the postpartum period. The overall aim of the journal is to foster, promote and disseminate research involving midwifery education and clinical practice. While the journal is European, it warmly welcomes and publishes submissions and content from all over the world, linking the global community.

Full Journal Title: European Journal of Midwifery
Abbreviated Title: Eur J Midwifery
ISSN (electronic): 2585-2906
Publisher: European Publishing
Publisher Address: Science and Technological Park of Crete, Greece
Association: Under the auspices of the Hellenic Midwives Association
Editors: See Editorial Board page
Peer Review: Double Blind
Publication Frequency: Continuous
Publication Medium: Electronic Only
Publication website: www.europeanjournalofmidwifery.eu
First Year Published: 2017

Article Processing Charges: From January 2022, articles that are accepted for publication carry an APC of 1750 Euro (exclusive of VAT where applicable), unless one of the below criteria apply:

* All manuscripts from Low-Income Countries are automatically granted a waiver.

* Manuscripts from Low Middle-Income Countries and from authors of High-Income Countries who are unable to pay the APC, are evaluated on a case by case basis by the Editor-in-Chief and the Publisher.

* Editorials and Letters to the Editor do not have any APCs.

Development of the journal has been partially funded through the Smart Specialisation Strategy of Crete (S3), an innovation policy concept to support regional prioritization in innovative sectors, fields or technologies. The European Commission introduced the S3 concept in the EU Cohesion Policy 2014-2020 as an 'ex-ante conditionality' for European regions to obtain funding for research and innovation from the European Regional Development Fund.

## Interested in supporting the journal?

There are no fees associated with supporting the journal, supporting organisations must simply be dedicated midwifery associations that wish to support the academic development of midwifery as a science and practice.

Publisher:
European Publishing
Science and Technology Park of Crete, Greece

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midwives to online learning.2. The third paper considers how to sustain quality education during a pandemic and beyond, critically appraising the learning, so as to adapt it to any future situations.3. Reflecting on this last three years is essential and the immense learning can be applied globally. What these papers all show is that midwives are adaptable and dynamic.

## Funding

There is no funding for this research.

## Conflicts of interest

The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

## References

Cooke A, Hancock A, White H, et al. Exploring the STEP-uP to practice: A survey of UK Lead Midwives for Education views of the STudent midwife Extended Practice Placement during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Midwifery. 2021;101:103048. doi:10.1016/j.midw.2021.103048

Lacey N, Thomas G. 'The sudden shift' — an evaluation of the attitudes of student midwives to online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. MIDIRS Midwifery Digest. 2022;32(2)

Renfrew MJ, Bradshaw G, Burnett A, et al. Sustaining quality education and practice learning in a pandemic and beyond: 'I have never learnt as much in my life, as quickly, ever'. Midwifery. 2021;94:102915. doi:10.1016/j.midw.2020.102915

Eur J Midwifery 2023;7(Supplement 1):A196

DOI: 10.18332/ejm/172455

# Exploring the emotions of midwifery students in Greece and the U.K using art as a medium

Kim Dale-Porter¹

¹Canterbury Christ Church University, Canterbury, United Kingdom

## Introduction

In 2016 the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) stated that in the U.K and internationally, 5-10% of newly qualified midwives (NQM) left the profession within six months of qualifying. The retention and confidence of midwives, particularly newly qualified midwives (NQM), is essential to the workforce in maternity care. Drawing provides the freedom to be expressive in ways that verbalising may inhibit, giving a raw expression that is not tainted by any common narrative. Using art as a medium is a relatively untapped resource when exploring and understanding some of the challenges and emotion's students and NQM face.

## Material and Methods

Art has become a lens by which new phenomena can be observed opposed to the traditional collection of data collected via questionnaires, observational and narrative approaches (Pentassuglia 2017). It is aimed at another perspective and offers questions acting as the illuminator of an aspect that might have otherwise been left unseen (Barone & Elliot 2012). An International National Study involving 30 midwifery students from the U.K and 31 Greek midwifery students were asked to 'draw' their thoughts and emotions regarding completion of their course and becoming registered midwives. Two senior midwifery educators, one from Greece and one from the U.K., were then asked to interpret the drawings, without knowing whether the students were U.K. or Greek based and give their perspective of the drawings.

## Results

Using art as an expression helped to identify some of the individual thoughts and feelings of midwifery students who were nearing qualification. The results from the lecturer's interpretation of the drawings showed that overall, they agreed on the vast majority of the drawings and their meanings. However, surprisingly, the response of the lecturers to the stress of the students interpreted through the drawings was very different. For example, one lecturer discussed the lack of resilience of the students and how they were no longer prepared to tolerate poor working conditions, while the other talked about compassion fatigue and the transfer of the mother's stress onto the student. Neither lecturer could tell the origin of the drawings, Greek or English.

## Conclusions

The work enables a new dialogue by bringing a fresh perspective and a collective and innovative approach to how students are prepared for practice. While work has already begun demonstrating the importance of providing a supportive environment for not only students and NQM's but also the midwifery workforce in general. Art is another tool to support the journey of novice-to-expert.

Eur J Midwifery 2023;7(Supplement 1):A197

DOI: 10.18332/ejm/172461

# Health workers training related to respectful maternal care: preliminary results of IMAgINE EURO project in 12 countries

Martina König-Bachmann¹, Christoph Zenzmaier¹, Simon Imola¹, Elisabeth D'Costa¹, Amira Ćerimagić², Daniela Drandić³, Magdalena Kurbanović⁴, Rozée Virginie⁵, Elise de La Rochebrochard⁵, Kristina Löfgren⁶, Céline Miani⁷, Stephanie Batram-Zantvoort⁷, Lisa Wandschneider⁷, Antigoni Sarantaki⁸, Dimitra Metallinou⁸, Aikaterini Lykeridou⁸, Marzia Lazzerini⁹, Emanuelle Pessa Valente⁹, Ilaria Mariani⁹, Arianna Bomben⁹, Stefano Delle Vedove⁹, Sandra Morano¹⁰, Antonella Nespoli¹¹, Simona Fumagalli¹¹, Ilana Chertok¹²,¹³, Rada Artzi-Medvedik¹², Elizabete Pumpure¹⁴,¹⁵, Dace Rezeberga¹⁴,¹⁵, Dárta Jakovicka¹⁶, Agnija Vaska¹⁵, Gita Jansone-Šantare¹⁴,¹⁵, Anna Regīna Knoka¹⁶, Katrīna Paula Vilcāne¹⁷, Alina Liepinaitienė¹⁸,¹⁹, Andželika Kondrakova²⁰, Marija Mizgaitienė²⁰, Simona Juciūtė²⁰, Maryse Arendt²¹, Barbara Tasch²¹,²², Ingvild Hersoug Nedberg²³, Sigrun Kongslien²³, Eline Skirnisdottir Vik²⁴, Barbara Baranowska²⁵, Urszula Tataj-Puzyna²⁵, Maria Węgrzynowska²⁵, Raquel Costa²⁶,²⁷,²⁸, Catarina Barata²⁹, Teresa Santos³⁰,³¹, Heloísa Dias³², Tiago Miguel Pinto³³, Marina Ruxandra Otelea³⁴,³⁵, Jelena Radetić³⁶, Jovana Ružičić³⁶, Zalka Drglin³⁷, Barbara Mihevc Ponikvar³⁷, Anja Bohinec³⁷, Serena Brigidi³⁸, Lara Martín Castañeda³⁹, Helen Elden⁴⁰,⁴¹, Karolina Linden⁴⁰, Mehreen Zaigham⁴², Verena Sengpiel⁴⁰,⁴¹, Claire de Labrusse⁴³, Alessia Abderhalden-Zellweger⁴³, Anouck Pfund⁴³, Harriet Thorn⁴³, Susanne Grylka⁴⁴, Michael Gemperle⁴⁴, Antonia Mueller⁴⁴

¹Health University of Applied Sciences, Innsbruck, Austria, ²NGO Baby Steps, Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, ³Roda - Parents in Action, Zagreb, Croatia, ⁴Faculty of Health Studies, University of Rijeka, Rijeka, Croatia, ⁵Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights Research Unit, Institut National d'Études Démographiques, Paris, France, ⁶Baby-friendly Hospital
Initiative, France, ⁷Department of Epidemiology and International Public Health, School of Public Health, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany, ⁸University of West Attica, Athens, Greece, ⁹Institute for Maternal and Child Health IRCCS Burlo Garofolo, Trieste, Italy, ¹⁰Medical School and Midwifery School, Genoa University, Genoa, Italy, ¹¹University of Milano Bicocca, Milano, Italy, ¹²School of Nursing, Ohio University, Ohio, USA, ¹³Department of Nursing, Ruppin Academic Center, Emek Hefer, Israel, ¹⁴Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Riga Stradins University, Rīga, Latvia, ¹⁵Riga Maternity Hospital, Riga, Latvia, ¹⁶Faculty of Medicine, Riga Stradins University, Rīga, Latvia, ¹⁷Faculty of Public Health and Social Welfare, Riga Stradins University, Riga, Latvia, ¹⁸Department of Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas, Lithuania, ¹⁹Kaunas University of Applied Sciences, Kaunas, Lithuania, ²⁰Kaunas Hospital of the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Kaunas, Lithuania, ²¹Professional association of the Lactation Consultants in Luxembourg, Luxembourg, Luxembourg, ²²Neonatal intensive care unit, KannerKlinik, Centre Hospitalier de Luxembourg, Luxembourg, Luxembourg, ²³Department of health and care sciences, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway, ²⁴Department of health and caring sciences, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, Bergen, Norway, ²⁵Department of Midwifery, Centre of Postgraduate Medical Education, Warsaw, Poland, ²⁶EPIUnit, Instituto de Saúde Pública, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal, ²⁷Laboratório para a Investigação Integrativa e Translacional em Saúde Populacional, Porto, Portugal, ²⁸Human-Environment Interaction Laboratory, Universidade Lusófona, Lisbon, Portugal, ²⁹Instituto de Ciências Sociais, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal, ³⁰Universidade Europeia, Lisbon, Portugal, ³¹Plataforma Católica Med/Centro de Investigação Interdisciplinar em Saúde da Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Lisbon, Portugal, ³²Regional Health Administration of the Algarve, IP, Faro, Portugal, ³³Education and Sports, Faculty of Psychology, Lusófona University, Porto, Portugal, ³⁴University of Medicine and Pharmacy Carol Davila, Bucharest, Romania, ³⁵SAMAS Association, Bucharest, Romania, ³⁶Centar za mame, Belgrade, Serbia, ³⁷National Institute of Public Health, Ljubljana, Slovenia, ³⁸Department of Anthropology, Philosophy and Social Work, Medical Anthropology Research Center, Rovira i Virgili University, Tarragona, Spain, ³⁹Institut Català de la Salut, Generalitat de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain, ⁴⁰Institute of Health and Care Sciences, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden, ⁴¹Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Region Västra Götaland, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Gothenburg, Sweden, ⁴²Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Institution of Clinical Sciences Lund, Lund University, Lund and Skåne University Hospital, Malmö, Sweden, ⁴³School of Health Sciences, HES-SO University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland, Lausanne, Switzerland, ⁴⁴Institute of Midwifery, School of Health Professions, ZHAW Zurich University of Applied Sciences, Winterthur, Switzerland

## Introduction

The IMAgINE EURO project is currently ongoing in 23 countries. It documents the perspective of both mothers and health workers (HWs) on the quality of maternal and newborn

care around the time of childbirth, during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic. Within the IMAgINE Euro Project this study aimed at investigating training on respectful care, across HWs from 12 countries of the WHO European Region.

## Material and Methods

HW providing care to women and newborns in facilities for at least 1 year between March 1st 2020 to March 1st 2023, were invited to answer an anonymous, validated, online survey based on WHO Standards Quality Measures. We performed a descriptive analysis on indicators related to respectful maternity care training courses and subgroup analyses to look at differences by facility type (private vs public) and by health profession (midwife vs other HWs).

## Results

Among 4143 HWs more than a half were midwives (2500, 60.3%), with the larger sample was from Italy (589, 14.2%). There was a large variation of frequencies across countries for all Quality Measures and no country was free from gaps. More than one third of HWs reported "need of significant improvement" on training events on counselling and communication (1406, 34.2%; country range: 20.1%-64.3%), pain relief practices (1496, 36.4%; 36.1%-58.0%), emotional support (1595, 38.8%; 29.1%-60.7%), informed consent practices (1757, 42.7%; 33.1%-71.3%), and rights of women/newborns (2050, 49.8%; 47.9%-82.6%). HWs in public facilities reported significantly higher "need of significant improvement" for all Quality Measures on respectful care training. Midwives perceived higher need of significant improvement for counselling and communication (p=0.001) and rights of women/newborns (p=0.002).

## Conclusions

HWs from both maternal and newborn area in 12 countries of the WHO European region call for improvements on training to strengthen their respectful care skills. Training delivery and HWs competences should be routinely monitored to ensure high quality care for all women.

## Funding

This study was supported by the Ministry of Health, Rome, Italy, in collaboration with the Institute for Maternal and Child Health, IRCCS "Burlo Garofolo," Trieste, Italy.

## Conflicts of interest

The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

Eur J Midwifery 2023;7(Supplement 1):A198

DOI: 10.18332/ejm/172547

## A toolbox to improve simulation training in midwifery education

Signe Egenberg¹, Eilef Johan Gard², Anna af Ugglas³, Heidi Elvemo⁴

¹Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Stavanger University Hospital, Stavanger, Norway, ²Division of Education, Department of Academic Affairs, Section for Quality and Development in Education, University of Stavanger, Stavanger, Norway, ³Laerdal Medical, Stavanger, Norway, ⁴Department of Health and Care Sciences, Faculty of Health Science, UiT the Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway

## Introduction

Simulation training is known to have a positive impact on students' learning. Learning takes place as a social process, where the members construct their own share of the collective