A Narrative Inquiry into Ghanaian Midwives' Experiences of Caring for Women during Labour

• Author / Creator

  Asamoah Ampofo, Evelyn

• In this research, I focused on inquiring into midwives’ experiences of caring for women in Ghana during labour. Using narrative inquiry, four midwives, currently working in private maternity homes, were invited to share their experiences. I was constantly guided by the three dimensional narrative inquiry space: temporality, sociality and place (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000). My research puzzle was shaped by the following wonders: What are the experiences of Ghanaian midwives who care for women in labour? How do these experiences reflect the professional knowledge landscapes and the personal practical knowledge midwives hold? How do their personal experiences across time, place, and in diverse contexts impact their care for women in labour? What forms of knowledge do midwives who care for women during childbirth hold? Being guided by the concept of relational ethics (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000), I developed a trusting relationship with participants over a period of five months. During this time I held several tape-recorded conversations with participants and engaged in multiple other interactions, which I recorded as field notes and in my journal. As part of moving from field texts to interim and final research texts, I listened to each tape-recorded conversation again and again and repeatedly read my field notes and journal entries. Participants and I co-composed narrative accounts that reflected their stories of experiences as lived and told, as well as reflected our relationships. To identify resonant threads across all four narrative accounts, I read each account with intentionality and with the research puzzle in mind. A narrative thread of three distinct professional knowledge landscapes for midwives was identified. These were the professional knowledge landscape of working in rural communities, urban communities, and private maternity homes. Two concepts of knowledge: knowledge for midwives, and midwives’ knowledge were identified on each of these professional knowledge landscapes. I discussed the implications of the three professional knowledge landscapes to midwifery education, practice and research.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Labour
  • Narrative inquiry
  • Midwives' experiences

• Graduation date

  Spring 2018

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Doctor of Philosophy

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3KD1R15M

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.