gms | German Medical Science

Background: Midwives continually perform emotion work. Little is known about how they manage their emotions. Emotions consist of processes that are complex, partly chronological, partly synchronous and to a large extent unconscious. Therefore art therapy based interventions offer the possibility to express intense emotions, to regulate emotions and to communicate own emotions.

Aim: The aim of the present work is to use art therapy based interventions to reflect the emotion work of midwifery and to promote it for a professional management of feeling, thinking and acting with the added value of mental health of all involved in the birth process.

Methodology: The study-based supervision was developed with orientation to design-based research, and evaluated as practice research with a qualitative research approach.

The data collection portfolio consisted of, among other things, the proceedings of the sessions, the project journal, and visual materials. The written feedback forms were examined as the central data set using qualitative content analysis.

Discussion: Three main categories identified from the participants* written feedback are discussed with the current state of research. These are: acceptability and plausibility of art therapy-based interventions, the relevance of emotions, and resources.

Results: A significant finding of the feedback analysis was the high level of acceptance and plausibility for the art therapy-based interventions with the linkage of resources for professional competence and mental health prevention. In addition, these interventions were linked to currently relevant training or study topics, particularly emotion work.

Relevancy: Raising awareness of emotions and their influence highlights the urgency of this research topic in the era of evidence-based thinking and working in midwifery.

Midwives and midwifery students need to be nurtured and protected as a resource. So the question is not if, but in How do we (want to) use our emotions as resources. In 2019, the WHO highlighted the arts in a global review for improving health and as a cost-effective resource for training health professionals and support such as the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Recommendations/conclusion: Science-based supervision services can be used immediately and evaluated on an ongoing basis with further research. Follow-up research can quantitatively examine insights and derivations drawn from this foundational research to ground this practice reflection, establish references, and develop a theoretical frame of reference.

Ethics and conflicts of interest: This abstract was written in the context of a master’s thesis. The Ethics Committee of the SFU Vienna has been commissioned to review the project. The project was supported by funding from the Berlin Midwives Association. There are no conflicts of interest.

The PDF file of the poster submitted for the meeting is available in German as Attachment 1 [Attach. 1].