Abstract
Caring is the core business of nursing and midwifery, involving a relationship in which the
carer is committed to the needs of the one being cared for (Mason-Whitehead, Mcintosh,
Bryan & Mason). Caring is the emotion which drives a midwife to care, the motive aimed
at assisting someone to grow and self-actualise (Watson). The concern in midwifery is that
irrespective of caring being central to the midwifery profession, caring taught in theoretical
learning does not always translate into caring behaviour in practice. A qualitative exploratory
study examined how midwifery educators impart the skill of caring during theoretical
learning and clinical accompaniment, in order to respond to the general complaint made both
locally and internationally that midwives are uncaring. The aim was to explore caring during
theoretical learning and clinical accompaniment from the perspective of midwifery educators.
Participants in the study were midwifery educators teaching midwifery in institutions of
learning in Tshwane, South Africa. The naive sketch was used to gather data, wherein one
central question was asked and the educators were invited to narrate and respond. Three
themes emerged: the meaning of caring; how caring was conveyed during theoretical learning;
and how it was conveyed during clinical accompaniment. Although the midwifery educators
expressed how they conveyed caring to the learner midwives, it was not evident how caring
competencies were assessed in order to ensure caring midwives at the end of training.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:tut/oai:encore.tut.ac.za:d1001968 |
| Date | 27 November 2012 |
| Creators | Chokwe, ME, Wright, SCD |
| Publisher | Health SA Gesondheid |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | |
| Rights | © 2012. The Authors |
| Relation | AOSIS OpenJournals |
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