title: Volunteering in the maternity services: for whose benefit?
abstract: In recent years volunteers have become part of the maternity services to support midwives in the UK. Future midwifery students are being expected to have gained such experience when applying for courses. They are providing significant support for women in relation to breastfeeding and in other supportive roles. However this article aims to explore what volunteers are doing, questions whether the recent shortage of midwives is leading to volunteers being asked to take on tasks that are beyond their unpaid status and asks who is really benefiting from this role.
authors: University of the West of England.
authors: Jennifer
authors: J
authors: Hall
mesh_terms: D019058:Community Networks; D005260:Female; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D007588:Job Satisfaction; D008427:Maternal Health Services / Q000379:methods*; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D011247:Pregnancy; D006113:United Kingdom; D014838:Volunteers / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016526:Workload