gms | German Medical Science

Background: Little attention is paid to the subjective experience of the pregnant women and the associated multifactorial aspects within the usual prenatal care in Germany [1]. Not infrequently it is focused on diagnostics and therapy. However, the important section of the subjective experience also determines the work of a midwife accompanying pregnant women. The academic training of midwives at the University of Health, Bochum focuses on theory-practice transfer [2]. Since 2017, students in the first semester of the bachelor’s degree program in midwifery have the opportunity to meet monthly with real pregnant women and exchange experiences on the pregnancy [3].

Aim: Midwifery students get the chance to accompany a pregnant woman within the pregnancy parallel to being taught theoretical terms. Therefore they are supposed to receive a different perspective on the process. This additional platform of exchange can have implications for the experience of pregnancy and giving birth for the pregnant women.

Method: With a wide-ranging advertising campaign in local print media, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and the distribution of information flyers, pregnant women were sought who were approximately in the 20^th week of pregnancy at the beginning of the project. The project was presented to them during an information event. Within two units of learning the students received information about the project as well as teaching content on interview techniques. Two students had monthly meetings with a pregnant woman until the postnatal period. The pregnant woman thereby acts as the expert about her pregnancy. The students wrote a report about the contents of the talks. The women receive these at a closing event. The students evaluated the project during a course with a lecturer and filled in a questionnaire. After birth, the formerly pregnant women received a questionnaire regarding the general conditions of the project, the content of the discussions and the evaluation of the narrative platform within the pregnancy as an additional offer.

Results: Compared to previous years, there were significantly more meetings between students and pregnant women. The students rated the project as an ideal combination with parallel cases in problem-based learning (PBL), which allowed them to technically classify the discussions with the pregnant women. The evaluation of the questionnaires showed a thoroughly positive summary. As challenges, in relation to the pregnant woman, temporal, medial and thematic demarcation problems emerged. The young mothers emphasized the open talking atmosphere, the feeling to be taken seriously and evaluated the project as a good addition to the usual care structures.

Conclusion/Outlook: The need to talk about experiencing their own pregnancy seems to be important to the pregnant women. Further studies can provide information on whether this format has an effect on the birth and the time afterwards. For the midwifery students the project seems to be highly efficient in the preparation for their practical work. Some of the women took part in further offers within the field of study.

The projects starts every October.

Ethics and conflicts of interest: No vote on ethics was obtained. The research was supported by external funding. There are no conflicts of interest.