Public awareness of the work of midwives

This Bachelor Dissertation aims to address problems general public has in understanding of a midwife's work and midwifery profession. This is currently a hot topic due to changes in midwifery today. This work concentrates not only on public information about the work of a midwife but also on all wider aspects her work. The main aim is to map the knowledge of current public information about midwifery in general. From that knowledge a question arises: How does general public understands the role of a midwife? Work and role of the midwife is described in the theoretical part of this work and covers a period of known history to present day. A special consideration is given not only to the historical connections but also to the development of educational systems, its past and present, last but not the least, the legislation. A midwife's competences are described in terms of legislative norms currently in place in the Czech Republic as well as roles and activities of professional institutions; another section of the work is devoted to the specific aspects of the profession. This research was focused on finding the existing levels of information and knowledge, in public domain, about midwifery education, the content of a midwife's work and the areas of her involvement in healthcare. A quantitative method of research was chosen as being the most suitable for the purpose of this work. Data was acquired by using a questionnaire. The non-standardised anonymous questionnaire was aimed at adults of both sexes' without age limitations, except for the minimum age limit of 18 years. To maximise the use of the limited available time, both printed and electronic distribution was chosen to run concurrently. The research was carried out during months of February and March 2014. Research sample size was 125, 30 men and 95 women. The result of this research shows that 68 % of participants did not know that a midwife's qualifications are obtained at university, at a degree level. Knowledge ofthe range of work a midwife does is very limited. Most respondents (119) expected a midwife to be present at birth in hospital. Another, rather large section of respondents connects a midwife with care of pregnant women on antenatal courses and with teaching expectant mothers relaxation exercise techniques. A midwife's work is not generally associated with gynaecology, gynaecology ambulance service and care for the newborn. Generally, a midwife is perceived to be a doctor's assistant and helper, not as an autonomous worker making independent decisions in the medical team. It was shown also, that in reality no distinction is being made between a nurse and a midwife. One of the aims of this research was to elicit the perceptions the respondents have about the level of healthcare a midwife can offer; to find if they would be interested in having independent working midwifes and if yes, then in what areas of healthcare. Respondents had only very minimal experience with independent or private midwifes. The research has shown that it is, imperative to improve the information for general public about all aspects of midwifery. Public awareness of this is not very high. This Bachelor Dissertation has highlighted that public knowledge about midwifery is insufficient. Only when people will be sufficiently well informed about the services on offer, have awareness of a midwife's competences and knowledge of all spheres of her work, then midwifery profession will be able to extend and develop more of its services. Everyone needs to know what services are available in order to use them fully. In conclusion, this work is recommended for midwifes in active service it provides an overview of level of information people have about the service, where the weak areas are, and what are current preferred options in midwifery healthcare