Midwives and sexual violence: A cross-sectional analysis of personal exposure, education and attitudes in practice

Around one in three women experience sexual violence during their lifetime. They may need trauma-sensitive maternity care that takes sexual trauma triggers into account. Midwives are similarly likely to have experienced sexual violence in their lifetime. It is unknown whether midwives with a personal sexual violence history have a different professional approach to the topic than their colleagues without such history.

To explore whether midwives with a personal sexual violence history are more likely to have received or need education about sexual violence and whether they approach sexual violence differently in practice.

An exploratory online survey was conducted amongst practicing midwives in high resource countries. Odds ratios were calculated for differences between midwives with and without a personal sexual violence history.

Of the 288 participating midwives, 48.6% disclosed a personal sexual violence history. Midwives with a personal sexual violence history showed higher uptake of post-graduate education (OR 2.05, 95% CI 1.23-3.44), more accurate prevalence estimation (OR 3.42, 95% CI 2.10-5.57) and more confidence to identify sexual violence history (OR 1.94, 95% CI 1.19-3.15). We found no differences in requiring future education, screening practices, other aspects of confidence or time and discomfort barriers.

As fellow survivors, midwives with a personal sexual violence history have a unique standpoint towards sexual violence in maternity care practice that may make them more sensitive to the issue.