A concept analysis of the term midwifery intervention: A scoping review

The term midwifery intervention or midwife intervention regularly occurs in scientific literature, without consistent understanding of what it implies. In modern maternity care where new technological interventions are constantly applied in practice, it is important to identify how interventions can be built on midwifery knowledge and its philosophy of care. The aim of this study was to explore the concept of midwifery intervention to gain a deeper understanding of what the concept implies and how it is used.

We performed a scoping review for a concept analysis using Morse's approach. We searched five databases for scientific publications where 'midwifery'/'midwife' and 'intervention' are linked as one joint concept. Selected publications were evaluated using criteria for concept analysis: presence of definitions, defining attributes, boundaries, antecedents and consequences. Subsequently, we performed a critical analysis using ICM Philosophy of Midwifery Care.

Our analysis of 83 selected papers show that the concept of midwifery intervention is not well defined and lacks a harmonious understanding. We see a mix of terms and the midwifery component of the intervention is poorly defined and mostly refers to midwives as merely performing the intervention. Critical analysis shows that six of the midwifery interventions strongly relate to the components of the ICM Philosophy of Midwifery Care.

The way the term midwifery intervention is often used undermines a wider understanding of what midwifery is about, the added value midwives have for women and newborns, and the positing of midwives in healthcare. The terms should be used for intervention closely linked to the midwifery philosophy care.