Calling Midwives for Research Exploring their Substance Use One Year After the first UK Lockdown

A year ago, we surveyed over 600 midwives in the United Kingdom (UK) with regard to their substance use among other things. Data collection was halted early in response to the first lockdown of 2020 to avoid a distortion of results. Our findings are currently under peer review for publication.

Now, one year on, we are again looking for as many UK midwives as possible to complete and share this new survey, so that we may investigate what, if anything has changed.

All UK midwives are invited to complete this survey whether or not they participated in our last survey. They are also encouraged to participate whether or not they use substances. Please share the survey link widely.

Survey Link: https://bit.ly/UKMidwivesPSU

Please note: We will not be able to track or identify you in any way. As such, there will be no repercussions arise from anything you disclose. We are only interested in understanding, so please help us by keeping your responses anonymous throughout.

The aim of this new research is:

·         To identify the rate of problematic substance use (PSU) among midwives registered in the UK

·         To explore the leaving intentions of midwives registered in the UK

·         To explore the help seeking behaviours of midwives registered in the UK

·         To identify health risks among midwives registered in the UK

·         To measure work engagement within UK registered midwifery populations

Survey Link: https://bit.ly/UKMidwivesPSU

Access the entire project page here.

Follow me via @SallyPezaro; The Academic Midwife; This blog

Until next time…Look after yourselves and each other 🎓

Tobacco, alcohol & cannabis use among midwifery populations

 

Problematic substance use in midwifery populations is an uncomfortable topic to explore, yet:

There are human and financial costs associated with problematic substance use (PSU) among the healthcare workforce, which also has a significant role in medical negligence.This systematic integrative review presents an international summary of the evidence in relation to PSU in midwifery populations.There is limited evidence available in relation to PSU in midwifery populations in comparison to that available for other healthcare populations.As midwives form a part of the general healthcare workforce and are exposed to similar workplace stressors, it is likely that they would be similarly affected by PSU in the healthcare workplace.Future research could usefully capture contemporary data in relation to PSU in distinct midwifery populations.

Our latest review on this topic is the first of it’s kind. We hope this work will act as a useful foundation for future work in this area.

Pezaro, S., Patterson, J., Moncrieff, G., & Ghai, I. (2020). A systematic integrative review of the literature on midwives and student midwives engaged in problematic substance use. Midwifery, 102785.

“Healthcare professionals who engage in PSU have indicated that they worry about their PSU, have trouble getting along with others, provide less than their best patient care, have limited their commitment to patient care and seriously consider suicide (Kenna and Wood, 2004). Whilst it has not been possible to identify midwifery populations within such larger data sets, we concur with Weenink et al. (2017), who suggest that it is unlikely midwives are immune from such similar effects.”

“Being the first international systematic integrative review of PSU in midwifery populations, this article presents findings in relation to both midwives and student midwives working in three separate countries, identified from a total of three empirical studies (Deasy et al., 2014; Schluter et al., 2012; Watson et al., 2006). Substances used included tobacco, alcohol and cannabis. Problem substance use was broadly linked to longer working hours and coping with work-related stress via escape avoidance. Whilst the reasons for PSU remained unclear in the survey study by Watson et al. (2006), inferences are made by the authors that this coincided with local promotional ‘student nights’, where alcohol is discounted in price.”

To follow on from this review, we have collected data on PSU from midwives practising in the United kingdom. We hope to publish our results from this soon. You can follow our work on substance use in midwifery populations via this project page.

Follow me via @SallyPezaro; The Academic Midwife; This blog

Until next time…Look after yourselves and each other 💚💙💜❤

References

Deasy et al., 2014 – C. Deasy, B. Coughlan, J. Pironom, D. Jourdan, P. Mannix-McNamaraPsychological distress and coping amongst higher education students: a mixed method enquiry. PLoS ONE, 9 (2014), pp. 1-23

 

Kenna and Wood, 2004 – G.A. Kenna, M.D. WoodAlcohol use by healthcare professionals. Drug Alcohol Depend., 75 (2004), pp. 107-116

Schluter et al., 2012 – P.J. Schluter, C. Turner, C. BeneferLong working hours and alcohol risk among Australian and New Zealand nurses and midwives: a cross-sectional study. Int. J. Nurs. Stud., 49 (2012), pp. 701-709

Watson et al., 2006 – H. Watson, R. Whyte, E. Schartau, E. JamiesonSurvey of student nurses and midwives: smoking and alcohol use. Br. J. Nurs., 15 (2006), pp. 1212-1216

 

 

 

Weenink et al., 2017 – J.W. Weenink, R.B. Kool, R.H. Bartels, G.P. WestertGetting back on track: a systematic review of the outcomes of remediation and rehabilitation programmes for healthcare professionals with performance concerns. BMJ Qual. Saf., 26 (2017), pp. 1004-1014

 

EXPLORING PROBLEMATIC SUBSTANCE USE AMONG REGISTERED MIDWIVES – SURVEY

Due to #Coronavirus #COVID19 and this additional pressures this has placed on NHS staff, we have now closed this survey (earlier than planned). Thank you to all of those who responded. We hope to publish results as soon as we can.

There is a united level of concern for the health and wellbeing of midwives in the United Kingdom (UK), where recent research has shown that many experience work-related stress and burnout. Such experiences may lead to midwives being at particular risk of substance use/misuse. In fact, in a recent review of fitness to practise (FtP) cases, a number of those put before the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) related to alcohol (n=208) and drug misuse (n=131).

Such episodes of addiction, alcohol and drug use are classed as individual health concerns. Yet, whilst they can leave a variety of healthcare professionals depleted, and both workplace safety and the safety of care compromised, relevant literature has thus far been largely dominated by the experiences and care of physicians. Consequently, researchers from Coventry University are now conducting the first nationwide study of registered midwives in relation to this issue.

Project Team:

@SallyPezaro

@GemmaSPearce

@karenmaher76

@Liz8ailey

@KongadiSahana

The aims of this study are:

• To investigate substance use among midwives registered in the UK
• To explore the perceptions of midwives registered in the UK in relation to midwifery impairment
• To explore perceptions of midwives registered in the UK in relation to organisational support
• To identify incidents of midwifery impairment
• To explore the help seeking behaviours of midwives registered in the UK with problematic substance use (PSU)
• To identify health risks among midwives registered in the UK with PSU

We are very grateful to the Royal College of Midwives for supporting recruitment to this study.

 

For further information, or if you have any queries, please contact me, the lead researcher, Dr Sally Pezaro (sally.pezaro@coventry.ac.uk).

Twitter handle: @SallyPezaro

We are also very grateful to UNISON for sharing this survey with their members

@unisontweets

If you would like to follow the progress of work going forward..

Follow me via @SallyPezaro; The Academic Midwife; This blog

Until next time…Look after yourselves and each other 💚💙💜❤