Midwives' use of the Internet: an Australian study
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Published on: April 7, 2023
Lisa McKenna1, Gayle McLelland
1School of Nursing and Midwifery, Monash University, Peninsula campus, McMahons Road, Frankston, Victoria 3199, Australia. lisa.mckenna@med.monash.edu.au
Objective:
to report findings on midwives' use of the Internet drawn from a larger study that explored midwives' attitudes and experiences to online and computer-based learning.
Design And Setting:
a descriptive, quantitative design using anonymous questionnaires was employed to obtain information from a sample of midwives in Victoria, Australia.
Participants:
questionnaires were forwarded by mail to a sample of 300 members of the Victorian branch of the Australian College of Midwives. A total of 169 questionnaires were returned by reply paid mail, representing a response rate of 56%.
Findings:
around 92.3% of respondents reported that they used the Internet. However, 31.5% did not find navigating it to be easy, 34.7% reported that finding information was not easy, and 27.2% were not confident using the Internet.
Key Conclusions:
many midwives have insufficient Internet competence to be able to access necessary evidence to support practice and to assist women with decision making.
Implications For Practice:
ongoing education and training is needed to ensure that midwives have the skills to source evidence to support practice, and are able to effectively critique Internet information.
