gms | German Medical Science

Background: NorNAM is a network of researching midwives from five Nordic countries focusing on midwifery models and theories. Midwives and midwifery have been a respected and integrated part of the health care systems in the Nordic countries for the last 300 years [1]. Midwives are the main care giver, assist all spontaneous births and are present at all operative deliveries to provide care for the mother and baby. The Nordic welfare state model is characterised as democratic, capitalist, welfare countries with active social states with a comprehensive responsibility for health, wellbeing and eculation of the residents, and based on principles of universlity and egalitarism [2].

WHO guidelines [3] and The International Childbirth Initiative [4] recommend that all women throughout the world should have access to safe and respectful maternity care. Moreover, a framework for quality maternal and newborn care (QMNC) has been presented in the Lancet [5], suggesting need to change maternity care systems across the world from focusing on identification and treatment of pathology to optimizing biological, psychological, social and cultural processes. We strongly agree on these guidelines and the framework.

Researchers from the Anglo-Saxon cultural area dominate the field of midwifery, because they are many in numbers, have a long research tradition, and are producing research of high quality. For smaller countries, there is a danger of introducing and implementing thoughts, models and guidelines without taking the local context in consideration. Since professional roles and the organisation of maternity care differs across countries, it is therefore necessary to identify specific regional or national challenges and thus develop theories and models for maternal care, and for midwifery practice.

The aim of the network is to develop a Nordic platform for midwifery research and academic activities.

Methods: Ongoing activities:

• We have developed and offered a PhD course aimed at Nordic midwifery researchers.
• We are writing a discussion article about the Nordic context of midwifery and maternity care, challenges and need for future research
• We are conducting a mapping review about models for midwifery care

Findings: At the symposium, we want to present the following: Presentation of the network – how it started, our work up to now and future plans

Ethics and conflicts of interest: A vote on ethics was not necessary. We will present review articles and describe a network. The research was financed by own resources. There are no conflicts of interest.