2017/11/29 by Wehrstedt, Christine, Schnepp, Wilfried, Müller-Rockstroh, Babette
#610 Medical sciences #Biographieforschung #Grounded Theory #Hebammenwissenschaft #Medicine #außerklinische Geburtshilfe #biographical research #grounded theory #midwifery research methodology #out-of-hospital birth/obstetrics #qualitative Hebammenforschung
paper · doi:10.3205/zhwi000008
Aim: This article presents an innovative methodological approach – the combination of grounded theory and professional biographical research – with the potential to create a typology of midwives and to reconstruct individual out-of-hospital career pathways. These initial results of an ongoing PhD study of midwives' career-related decision making processes regarding leaving or continuing to provide out-of-hospital obstetric care in Germany will serve as an example to demonstrate the value and relevance of the proposed combination – for the young discipline of midwifery science and regarding as yet unexplored aspects of professionalism in midwifery. Methodological relevance of the project: The profession ‘midwife’ is an under-researched topic in Germany, even more so within the qualitative paradigm. The increasing number of midwives leaving the profession, and in particular out-of-hospital-obstetric care, has resulted in a shortage of midwifery services. So far, however, there is hardly any empirical information available in Germany as to why midwives enter, remain in or leave this field. Gaining insights into factors influencing midwives’ decisions in this regard is as relevant to health science as it is to health policy. New methodological approaches are required to untangle the complexity of midwives’ professional development. The methodological combination presented here provides an emic perspective and knowledge of the structural factors within which professional pathways unfold.