Midwives' work-related fear and anxiety and its impact on their wellbeing and performance. A qualitative study of perceived anxiety in community midwives

Davita H van den Heuvel; Liesbeth E Kool; Tamar L Nelson; Esther I Feijen-de Jong

doi:10.18332/ejm/172574

Midwives' work-related fear and anxiety and its impact on their wellbeing and performance. A qualitative study of perceived anxiety in community midwives

Eur J Midwifery. 2023 Nov 20:7:34. doi: 10.18332/ejm/172574. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Davita H van den Heuvel¹, Liesbeth E Kool^{1

2

3}, Tamar L Nelson¹, Esther I Feijen-de Jong^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Academy Midwifery Amsterdam and Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.
² University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Department of Primary and Long-term Care UMCG, Groningen, The Netherlands.
³ Amsterdam UMC, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Department of Midwifery Science, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Abstract

Introduction: Working with acute situations is usually part of midwifery practice. In the Netherlands the community midwives work in a context where they are mostly the sole decision-makers and policymakers and often do not have the support of a multidisciplinary team during a birth. How Dutch community midwives maintain their emotional hygiene is not known. This study aims to explore how Dutch midwives perceive fear and its influence on their performance.

Methods: This is a qualitative study with semi-structured interviews of 19 Dutch community midwives between October 2018 and January 2019.

Results: Four themes were identified: 1) midwives' perceptions of fear and anxiety, 2) how years of experience affect fear and anxiety, 3) influence of the work content; and 4) implications for performance. Midwives perceived fear in acute situations where maternal and/or fetal complications were imminent. Participants perceived anxiety either as helpful or a hindrance. Awareness of these feelings helps them to regulate whether or not to give in to these feelings.

Conclusions: Our findings suggest similar perspectives on fear in Dutch community midwives compared to previous outcomes. In the Netherlands, midwives seem reluctant to talk about fear and anxiety in the profession. The awareness of these emotions occurring while working is essential for the wellbeing of midwives, as well as the importance of knowing how to act on fear and anxiety.

Keywords: anxiety; clinical decision-making; fear; midwives; risk assessment.