title: An exploration and description of student midwives' experiences in offering continuous labour support to women/couples.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  to explore and describe the student midwife's experiences in offering continuous labour support.
  
  
  METHODS
  a qualitative research design was chosen. Each student midwife offered continuous labour support to five women/couples and wrote narratives about each of these occasions. Written narratives from 11 student midwives were analysed using qualitative content analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  when student midwives offer continuous labour support to women/couples, they try to establish rapport. When this works, their presence, their sense of confidence and their ability to offer reassurance increase. If establishing rapport does not work, students experience a sense of powerlessness, a need for reassurance and a lack of confidence.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  offering continuous labour support to women and/or their partners made the students aware of the importance of establishing rapport, and it made them realise the impact that their mere presence in the room could have. The students had a need for reassurance which could hamper their efforts to establish rapport. Experiencing a lack of confidence made students focus more strongly on their clinical skills and on their perceived role as a student midwife.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  this study can initiate discussions about how student midwives learn to be supportive, as well as about the role models that students encounter during their clinical training in Sweden.
authors: School of Life Sciences, University of Skövde, Skövde, Sweden. stina.thorstensson@his.se
authors: Stina
authors: S
authors: Thorstensson
authors: Eva
authors: E
authors: Nissen
authors: Anette
authors: A
authors: Ekström
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D036861:Delivery, Obstetric / Q000451:nursing*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008880:Midwifery / Q000193:education*; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology; D024802:Nurse's Role; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D009730:Nursing Assessment / Q000379:methods; D011247:Pregnancy; D012944:Social Support; D013338:Students, Nursing / Q000523:psychology*; D013548:Sweden; D014956:Writing