Maureen Miles

The decision-making processes adopted by rurally located mandated professionals when child abuse or neglect is suspected

The reporting of suspected child abuse and neglect is a mandated role of medical doctors, nurses, police and teachers in Victoria, Australia. This paper reports on a research study that sought to explicate how mandated professionals working in rural Victorian contexts identify a child/ren at risk and the decisions they make subsequently.

Hermeneutic phenomenology: a methodology of choice for midwives.

Hermeneutic phenomenology has been used widely by researchers to understand lived experiences. This methodology asserts that individual people are as unique as their life stories. The practice of midwifery is underpinned by a philosophy that values women and the uniqueness of their child-bearing journey. The tenets of hermeneutics phenomenology align with those of contemporary midwifery practice, making it a useful research methodology for providing insights into issues relevant to the profession. The purpose of this paper is to unravel some foundational concepts of hermeneutic phenomenology and recommend it as a methodology of choice for midwives to apply to their application to midwifery-in-action.

Australian rural maternity services: creating a future or putting the last nail in the coffin

[Extract] Nurses and midwives are the largest group of health providers in Australia (60%), and with increasing remoteness, this proportion increases substantially. The recruitment and retention of nurses, and more specifically midwives in rural health services, is at crisis point. Sustainable birthing services will be reliant on a stable, regenerative workforce. Key to this goal is the education of nurses, midwives and doctors, all of whom have stringent pre-service professional placement quotas in order to meet required competencies to practice.

Peeling the onion: understanding others' lived experience

Society and some healthcare professionals often marginalise pregnant women who take illicit substances. Midwives who care for these women are often viewed as working on the edge of society. This research aimed to examine the lived experiences of midwives who care for pregnant women who take illicit drugs. A phenomenological study informed by Heidegger, Gadamer and Merleau-Ponty was chosen to frame these lived experiences. Using face-to-face interviews, data were collected from 12 midwives making a difference, establishing partnerships and letting go and refining practice. Lived experiences are unique and can be difficult, intangible and couched in metaphor and difficult to grasp. This paper aims to discuss lived experience and suggests that like an onion, several layers have to be peeled away before meaning can be exposed; each cover reveals another layer beneath that is different from before and different from the next. The study provides exemplars that explain lived experiences.

B is for Baby: The use of iPhone app technology in childbirth education

Midwives play an important role in antenatal education and there is a need for child birth education to be delivered more effectively and in the earlier stages pregnancy. There are numerous inconsistencies existing between the theory and practice of child birth education. A new direction is needed. The evolution of child birth education needs to quickly gain pace to meet the needs of todays expectant women. Contemporary technology presents a modern approach to support and promote child birth education classes. Consequently, this recent post graduate diploma student midwife project was to investigate the introduction of the use of iPhone app technology as a valuable tool in which to deliver child birth education. The conduction of the project included several elements, beginning with an extensive literature review, ethics approval; a survey completed by thirty two midwives at St Vincents Private Hospital (StVPH) was collected and generated the foundations for the prototype childbirth education iPhone App, and B is for Baby was constructed. This was then presented back to the midwives at St Vincents Private Hospital as a means to compliment and contribute to the traditional face to face child birth sessions.