Mentorship in Midwifery Practice: An Introduction

The book begins by exploring the history of mentoring and its relationship to education and practice. Theories and models of mentorship, education and leadership within the context of midwifery will be discussed, along with the importance of critical thinking and reflection. The editors use the lens of global mentoring to focus on how mentoring in midwifery has developed and been implemented in 15 countries from North and Central America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Australasia. Each chapter explores regulation, professional accountability, education, leadership and career pathways in the country in question.

This international text draws on the perspectives of Australian mentors, mentees, healthcare organisations and academics to highlight the complexities of mentorship in real work midwifery practice, and includes a chapter discussing how to take cultural considerations into question. The final chapters draw on the previous discussion to make recommendations that will support midwifery to implement and sustain a successful and supportive mentorship program for the next generation of midwives.

In this book, authors often refer to midwives as women to reflect the gendered nature of subordination of midwifery. While most midwives globally are women providing care to women, not all midwives in Mexico or globally identify as women. We acknowledge and celebrate the diverse identities of midwives, as this is the best way to build an environment that guarantees enabling sexual and reproductive care for all people who need midwives. Further, the term First Nations which is used is a collective term that refers to Indigenous Australian and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples of Australia. First Nations peoples will refer to themselves by any of these terms and may also identify through language groups. This term is used in acknowledgement that First Nations peoples have the right of self-determination to identify however they choose to do so.

This book is an invaluable read for midwifery students, educators and practitioners.

Dr Elaine Jefford, midwifery researcher, is an author and editor-in-chief for the International Journal of Childbirth: Women's and Reproductive Health and employed as a senior midwifery lecturer at the University of the Sunshine Coast, and is Adjunct Associate Professor at Southern Cross University, Australia. Her research focus is within the field of midwifery decision-making and abdicating one's professional accountability. This research underpins midwifery education practice and policy, and leadership and mentorship, as the relationship of one or all on midwifery decision-making can impact risk, safety and quality of care provision. A programme of research has led to strong collaborations in national and international research, service development work and practitioner training initiatives. Other research interests include birth trauma, perinatal mental well-being, deteriorating women, childbirth for incarnated women, self-compassion and women's health such as menopause. She led the validation of the Australian Birth Satisfaction Scale-Revised. This scale has been appraised by international opinion leaders and has been endorsed by the International Consortium of Health Outcome Measurement (ICHOM) as the measure of choice to assess 'birth satisfaction' worldwide within the ICHOM Standard Set for Pregnancy and Childbirth. She is now leading the Partner-Birth Satisfaction Scale-Revised (PBSS-R) Australian validation team. She has also been involved in national and international midwifery curriculum development and was a member of the Midwifery Accreditation Committee, which is part of the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Accreditation Council. She is also Chair of the Trans-Tasman Midwifery Education Consortium.

Dr Lyn Ebert is a registered nurse and midwife, a women's health and midwifery education researcher and Associate Professor in Midwifery at the Southern Cross University (SCU). She is the Midwifery Work Integrated Learning Academic Coordinator (WILAC) for SCU. The WILAC role entails managing and administering the work integrated learning (WIL) or Midwifery Professional Experience (MPE) of a programme and ensures academic, clinical and strategic oversight and coordination of the WIL for the programme. She is committed to supporting the development of innovative health education strategies, curriculum teaching and learning methods that support student learning, childbearing women's safety and improved midwifery workforce culture.