title: Creating a safe haven-women's experiences of the midwife's professional skills during planned home birth in four Nordic countries.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The midwife assisting a birth has a considerable influence on the woman's experience of the birth. The aim of this study was to investigate the experience of the midwife's professional skills among women in Norway, Denmark, Iceland, and Sweden who chose a planned home birth.
  
  
  METHODS
  All known home birth midwives were asked to inform the mothers about the project and invite them to complete a questionnaire about different aspects of their home birth experience.
  
  
  METHODS
  The women were asked to assess 10 different aspects of the midwives' professional skills on a 4-graded scale below the main question: What was your experience of the midwife who assisted the labor? Furthermore, the mothers' experiences with the attending midwives were identified in the free text birth stories. The chosen method was a mixed method design.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The home birth midwives' professional skills were generally high scored. No statistically significant differences were found with respect to the assessment of the midwife. The content analyses yielded one overarching theme: The competence and presence of the midwife creates a safe haven, and three categories, midwife's safe hand, midwife's caring approach, and midwife's peaceful presence.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Women choosing a home birth in the four Nordic countries experienced that their midwives were highly skilled and they found the presence of the midwives valuable in helping them to feel safe and confident during birth. Despite differences in organization and guidelines for home births, the women's experience of the midwife's professional skills did not differ between the four countries.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health and Society, Malmö University, Malmö, Sweden; Obstetrics and Gynecology, Department Skåne, University Hospital, Lund, Sweden.
authors.forename: Ingela
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Sjöblom
authors.forename: Ewa
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Idvall
authors.forename: Helena
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lindgren
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002983:Clinical Competence; D003718:Denmark; D005260:Female; D006700:Home Childbirth / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D007055:Iceland; D008880:Midwifery / Q000592:standards*; D009664:Norway; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D011247:Pregnancy; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D013548:Sweden; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: home birth; midwife; mixed method; professional skills; women's experience