Compassion in midwifery : midwives' perspective

Abstract

Compassion is widely known as the "art of being professional and human‟, and it is considered to be a desirable quality in midwifery care. Although midwives do practice compassionate care in their clinical encounters with women, yet the concept of compassion is poorly defined and understood by midwives. Midwives are aware of workplace stresses but few relate this to compassion fatigue, missing out on recognising symptoms of compassion fatigue and identifying prevention strategies to overcome it. Hence, the aim of this study is to delve into midwives perspectives on the concept of compassion, with the objective to analyse the concept and identify the elements comprising compassion. At the same time, the causes, indicators and preventative strategies of compassion fatigue as perceived by local midwives are explored. A qualitative approach was chosen for this study using a self designed face to face interview. Eight Maltese midwives, were recruited by convenience sampling from the maternity wards at the local state hospital; achieving a 100% response rate. Data was analysed through content thematic analysis using the Braun & Clarke (2006) framework. The study findings revealed that midwives perceived compassion as being a broad term that encompasses several attributes, and rightly defined the concept of compassion. Although, compassion fatigue was not clearly understood by participants, these midwives were aware of the ill effects of this problem proposing preventative strategies as identified in the literature. Recommendations for clinical practice, education and research are proposed to enhance the importance and significance of compassion in the midwifery profession.