Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 5, 2026

Monitoring Lung Function with Electrical Impedance Tomography in the Intensive Care Unit
Published on: September 6, 2024
Confidence: Fundamental to midwives providing labour care in freestanding midwifery-led units
Marion Hunter1, Elizabeth Smythe2, Deborah Spence3
1Midwifery Department School of Clinical Sciences, Auckland University of Technology, PB 92006 Wellesley St, Auckland, New Zealand.
Abstract:
The aim of this study was to reveal what enables, safeguards and sustains midwives to provide labour care in freestanding midwifery-led units.
Design:
A hermeneutic phenomenological study was undertaken in the Auckland region of New Zealand. In-depth interviews were conducted with 14 participants: 11 midwives who provide care in freestanding midwifery-led units and three obstetricians who provide antenatal consultations on site in midwifery-led units.
Main Findings:
Confidence is necessary to provide intrapartum care in freestanding midwifery units. This confidence is cultivated by working in the community or freestanding unit and believing this unit is an appropriate space for healthy women to labour and birth. Normal labour and birth are commonplace in this space which in turn reinforces midwives' confidence. Maintaining confidence for midwives to work in these units requires trusting relationships in the midwifery team. Further, there needs to be mutually respectful relationships with obstetric colleagues. Midwives who have lesser experience, or experience in obstetric unit only, may need support to step into the role of providing labour care in freestanding midwifery units. When the midwife feels supported, when s/he witnesses women and families experiencing their normal birth, one's resolve to practising in this manner is strengthened. The midwife holds confidence.
Key Conclusions And Implications For Practice:
Confidence required to provide labour care in a midwifery-led unit is cultivated through immersion in these units.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Fundamental Mathematical Principles in Pharmacokinetics: Mathematical Expressions and Units
One significant application of mathematics in pharmacokinetics is the characterization of drug distribution through the volume of distribution...
Confidence Coefficient
Measurement: Standard Units
Fundamental Attribution Error
Confidence Intervals
A...
Interpretation of Confidence Intervals
Confidence intervals have confidence coefficients that are crucial for their interpretation. The most common confidence coefficients are 0.90, 0.95, and 0.99, which can be written as percentages–90%, 95%, and 99%, respectively.
Suppose a person calculates a confidence interval with a confidence coefficient of 0.95. In that case, they can...

