Footprints of Birth: An Innovative Educational Intervention Foregrounding Women's Voices to Improve Empathy and...

A global movement on respectful maternity care has arisen because of widespread accounts of dehumanized maternity care. This article considers the use of a transformative learning approach to highlight patient agency and personhood in health care. An educational intervention using patient narratives was introduced in a maternity unit to foster a culture of listening and responsiveness to women's voices. This article reports the impact on staff and student learning, empathy, and reflective practice.

A total of 245 interprofessional providers participated in 14 workshops over a 16-month period. Participants represented a range of health professions including medicine, midwifery, nursing, and allied professions. Senior management, administrators, and peer support volunteers also attended. Session sizes ranged from 5 to 60 attendees. The format included documentary-style videos of patient feedback followed by audience discussion. Discussion points were collected and qualitatively analyzed for participants' critical reflection, emotional engagement, cognitive dissonance, and perspective transformation.

Learners reflected on the client-caregiver relationship and care provision. Staff and students showed empathy for the women sharing their stories. Learners were disturbed by failings in care and wished to improve services. All provider groups highlighted the importance of communication, compassion, and patient autonomy as key elements of maternity care.

Multiprofessional learners engaged emotionally with women's narratives and reflected critically on their roles in maternity care. Learners' responses showed evidence of transformative learning. Staff and students recognized the value of providing respectful, empathic care. Educational interventions highlighting patients' voices may promote patient autonomy by reducing dehumanization in health care.