The midwife's ultimate paradox: a UK-based study of the death of a mother.
OBJECTIVE
to identify the meaning of the death of a mother to the midwife providing care for her.


METHODS
a qualitative study in which the fieldwork comprised mainly semistructured telephone interviews. Data were also collected by letters and e-mail correspondence.


METHODS
the midwife informants are based in the UK.


METHODS
because of the sensitive nature of the topic, a volunteer sample of midwives who had 'experienced' the death of a mother was appropriate. Further 'non-experienced' midwives were recruited using a snowball technique.


RESULTS
the midwife's experience of the death of a mother is comparable with that of emergency personnel attending large-scale disasters. It features images intruding, identifying with those involved, encountering death and being unprepared.


CONCLUSIONS
the midwife faces a number of psychological challenges following the death of a mother, which justify this event being considered as a disaster. The findings of implications for practice: this study suggests that there may be a need for cultural change among midwives. It is possible that changes in midwifery education and in the midwife's continuing education may facilitate this.
Mander
R
R
Department of Nursing Studies, University of Edinburgh, Adam Ferguson Building, 40 George Square, Edinburgh, EH8 9LL. R.Mander@ed.ac.uk
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000739:Anecdotes as Topic; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001293:Attitude to Death; D002055:Burnout, Professional; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008880:Midwifery / Q000193:education / Q000592:standards*; D009732:Nursing Care / Q000523:psychology*; D015403:Nursing Evaluation Research; D011247:Pregnancy; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D006113:United Kingdom