Developing the Australian Midwifery Workplace Culture instrument

Area of Science:

• Midwifery Research
• Organizational Psychology
• Healthcare Management

Background:

• Workplace culture significantly impacts midwifery staff well-being, retention, and patient safety.
• Existing instruments inadequately address the unique aspects of maternity workplaces and midwife-patient relationships.
• Identified cultural issues in maternity services necessitate targeted assessment tools.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and psychometrically test the Australian Midwifery Workplace Culture instrument.
• To create a reliable tool for evaluating key cultural dimensions in maternity settings.
• To provide a foundation for examining and improving midwifery workplace environments.

Main Methods:

• A three-stage development process including item generation, expert content validation, and pilot testing.
• Utilized the Culture of Care Barometer for initial item generation.
• Employed exploratory factor analysis with data from 322 midwives for refinement.

Main Results:

• The final instrument comprises 22 items across three domains: relationship with managers, empowerment, and collegiality.
• Psychometric testing confirmed the instrument's ability to identify key cultural dimensions.
• The refined instrument provides a structured approach to assessing midwifery workplace culture.

Conclusions:

• The developed instrument aids in understanding critical aspects of maternity workplace culture.
• It can be used to examine problematic attitudes and practices within midwifery settings.
• Further validation with diverse samples and in specific settings is recommended.