Midwife interactions with birth support people in Melbourne, Australia

Objective: to investigate midwife experience of the presence of birth support people in the delivery suite. Participants: eighteen midwives working in three hospitals in Melbourne, Australia, who were interviewed over a 3 month period in 2001. Methods: informant views were gathered via semi-structured interviews. Interviews were transcribed and analysed for key concepts and central themes that were then compared to existing literature. Findings: all, midwives were supportive of the presence of birth support people to assist birthing women. The midwives were of the view that birth support people were not well prepared for the birth process, however, and did not generally have clear ideas about what support was necessary or required. Midwives indicated that the presence of birth support people in the birth room added to their workload and sometimes increased the difficulty of providing care to the birthing woman. Key conclusions: while the presence of birth support people is now commonplace in most Western medical systems, the presence of these birth support people may result in additional workload and stress for midwives. This aspect of the work of midwives requires greater investigation. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.