Exploring student midwives creative expression of the meaning of birth

This paper presents a study which explored creative pieces made by student midwives during an educational session on spirituality in relation to midwifery.

Background

Exploration of methods of teaching relating to midwifery has been limited, specifically relating to effective learning about spirituality. There is a current expectation in the UK that student midwives will be able to meet spiritual needs as part of a holistic approach to care. However, there has been limited exploration in the literature of ways to facilitate this learning. Creative art has been suggested to be a way of exploring personal spirituality; therefore we have introduced this option in an attempt to enable exploration of the concepts of spirituality.

Method

A group of 16 midwifery students in their second year were initially present in the session. Retrospective exploration of five creative pieces the students made showing their personal meaning of birth was carried out using a framework devised from visual methodology in addition with a questionnaire.

Findings

The experience of creating birth art and the teaching session as a whole was viewed as valuable in raising issues of spirituality and meaning in relation to birth. The creative pieces explored demonstrated students views of the principles of new life, the universality of birth, connection to the world outside the family, and the inclusion of love in the process.

Conclusion

The students’ artistic creations in this study illustrated their beliefs and values about birth at that moment in time. Their creations demonstrated their views of birth being symbolic of new life and growth; that it has a universal effect, not only the family, but outwardly on the social community and beyond; and that it is linked with the value of love. We interpret this to be relating to the elements of spirituality within birth. We suggest that approaching the meaning of birth through creativity and the concepts of spirituality may be a valuable component of creating holistic midwives and will need to be explored by further research.