ABSTRACT
In Chapter 8, Melanie Welfare explores the pressures on midwives that can lead to disaffection and burnout. Using midwifery in New Zealand as a case-study and backed by research on midwives’ work conditions from around the world, she discusses the factors that enhance the sustainability and factors that are detrimental to sustainability for midwives. Strong professional identity and recognition, being able to form meaningful relationships with women and having strong collegial support are vital for sustaining midwives in the profession. Welfare explores a wide range of sources of stress for midwives, including the impact of midwifery work on midwives’ personal lives, broader social changes and those challenges directly related to organisational and cultural aspects of maternity services. She uses a concept, developed in the military, of ‘moral injury’ to explore midwives’ experiences of stress and burnout. She outlines the finding from her research on how midwives in New Zealand shift between different midwifery work-settings in order to manage stress and sustain themselves in midwifery practice.
