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Midwifery educators are highly concerned about the quality of clinical support offered to midwifery students during clinical placement. The unpreparedness of midwifery practitioners in mentorship roles and responsibilities affects the competence levels of the next-generation midwives being produced.
The aim of this paper is to highlight various clinical support interventions to support midwifery students globally and propose a framework to guide mentorship training in South Africa.
This paper adopts a mixed methodology approach guided by the Arksey and O’Malley framework. Keywords such as midwifery students, clinical support, mentorship, preceptorship, and midwifery clinical practice were used during the literature search. The review included primary quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods design papers published between 2010 and 2020, and studies on clinical support interventions available to midwifery students during clinical placement. The search strategy followed a 3-stage system of title, abstract, and full-text screening using inclusion and exclusion criteria. All included papers were quality appraised with a mixed methods appraisal tool. Extracted data were analyzed and presented in themes following a thematic content analysis approach.
The screening results attained 10 papers for data extraction. In total, 7 of the 10 (70%) studies implemented a mentorship training program, 2 (20%) used a training workshop, and 1 (10%) used an intervention guide to support midwifery students in clinical practice. Of these 10 papers, 5 were qualitative, 4 mixed methods, and 1 quantitative in approach. In total, 9 of the 10 (90%) studies were conducted in high-income countries with only 1 study done in Uganda but supported by the United Kingdom. The quality of included papers ranged between 50% and 100%, showing moderate to high appraisal results. Significant findings highlighted that the responsibility of mentorship is shared between key role players (midwifery practitioners, students, and educators) and thus a 3-fold approach to mentorship. Mentorship training and support are essential to strengthen the clinical support of midwifery students during placement. The main findings produced 2 main themes and 2 subthemes each. The main themes included strengthening partnerships and consultation; and providing mentor support through training. The 4 subthemes were: establishing stronger partnerships between nursing education institutions and clinical facilities; improving consultation between midwifery educators, practitioners, and students; the quality of clinical support depends on the training content; and the training duration and structure. Hence, the researchers proposed these subthemes in a framework to guide mentorship training.
Mentorship training and support for midwifery practitioners will likely strengthen the quality of midwifery clinical support. A framework to guide mentorship training will encourage midwifery educators to develop and conduct mentorship training with ease. More studies using quantitative approaches in research and related to midwifery clinical support are required in African countries.
RR2-10.2196/29707
Supporting students placed at various clinical facilities is an essential component of learning during clinical practice. In clinical education programs, such as midwifery, clinical placement is a perfect opportunity to achieve the skills necessary to become a safe and competent practitioner. The quality of midwifery students graduating is the responsibility of both midwifery practitioners and educators [
Recent challenges in the health care system and its effects on the quality of clinical support offered to midwifery students have become a significant concern for midwifery educators globally [
However, global efforts using various clinical support models, such as mentorship, preceptorship, and clinical supervision, have shown positive outcomes on midwifery students’ clinical learning and support [
This systematic scoping review followed a protocol developed to analyze the evidence on interventions to strengthen the clinical support of midwifery students during clinical placements [
This review answers the research question what interventions are available to strengthen the current clinical support for midwifery students globally? By identifying and analyzing the clinical support interventions available on a global platform, the researchers desired to integrate these interventions to develop a new framework to guide mentorship training in South Africa.
The retrieval of records was through database searching conducted between September 2019 and March 2020. Hence, this review followed the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) flowchart [
Electronic databases used for this review included (1) EBSCOHost (CINAHL, MEDLINE, Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition) using boolean terms such as midwifery and clinical support, midwifery and mentorship, midwifery and clinical supervision, and midwifery and preceptorship; (2) PubMed and Science Direct included MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) terms such as midwifery students and clinical support, or midwifery students and mentorship, or midwifery students and clinical supervision; and (3) Google and Google Scholar used keywords such as midwifery students in undergraduate nursing programs, midwifery students and clinical support, mentorship in midwifery, and midwifery clinical practice and clinical supervision.
The librarian assisted with retrieving full-text papers not found on the website. All researchers kept an electronic record of retrieved papers.
The search strategy followed a 3-stage system of title screening, abstract screening, and full-text screening. The selection included qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods papers published in peer-review journals. All selected papers were exported to an EndNote (Clarivate, 2020) library. Duplications were removed from the list. The primary investigator and an independent collaborator screened all saved abstracts using a standardized Google Form as a tool. Both the primary investigator and the independent collaborator applied the inclusion and exclusion criteria developed for this search.
Inclusion criteria include (1) only primary studies conducted between 2010 and 2020; (2) papers that used qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods approaches; (3) papers that present programs, training, or interventions related to clinical support such as mentorship, preceptorship, and clinical supervision; and (4) papers available in the English language. Exclusion criteria include (1) studies that did not include a program, training, or intervention; (2) papers that were reviews; and (3) studies related to nurses in the general, community, and psychiatry nursing disciplines.
All papers selected from the abstract-screening stage were eligible for a full-text paper screening process using another standardized Google Form. Both the primary investigator and the research collaborator worked independently to screen all retrieved papers and compiled a report of both the abstract and full-text screening. A third reviewer (the research supervisor) was available to resolve any discrepancies; however, there were none at the time. The involvement of 3 reviewers prevented bias in the selection of papers. All selected papers from the screening process were saved in an EndNote software folder.
All included studies were quality appraised using a mixed methods appraisal tool [
This review identified papers, which included clinical support interventions. The data charting variables, included (1) the author’s name, (2) the year of publication, (3) the aims of the study, (4) intervention outcomes, and (5) the most significant findings.
A desktop review of included papers was followed by a thematic content analysis approach [
Ethical approval was obtained from the Human and Social Science Research Ethics Committee of the University of KwaZulu-Natal (HSS/1509/018M).
The results are presented as the screening results and the data extraction results.
The researcher selected only papers from primary studies for this review and adopted the PRISMA flowchart [
The screening results presented in a PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) flow diagram [
There were 5 qualitative papers [
From across the globe, 4 studies were in the United Kingdom [
Ten papers remained for data extraction, and the quality assessment of these papers was according to the research approaches selected in these primary studies. Hence, the mixed methods appraisal tool was selected to audit these papers. In total, 5 of the 10 papers (50%) were qualitative, of which 3 scored 100% and 2 scored 75%, showing high-quality values. The quality of 4 mixed method designs showed scores between 50% and 100%, and the remaining quantitative design paper scored 100%. These results indicated that all 10 papers were of high quality and complemented the purpose of conducting a systematic scoping review.
Ten papers published between 2010 and 2020 remained for data extraction. The objective of this review was to identify interventions to support midwifery students during clinical practice. Data charting variables were applied to extract data during this stage.
Data extraction.
Authors and year | Aims of the study | Intervention used | Significant findings |
Broad et al [ |
To support preregistration midwifery students during clinical placement | A transition model of preceptorship |
The intervention facilitated midwifery students learning in practice through the guidance of a preceptor. Increased confidence and competence of newly qualified midwives. Contributed to staff retention, increase co-operation, and quality of care given. Increased investment in health care and education. |
Barker et al [ |
To train and support the role of mentors in assessing clinical competence of midwifery students | Mentor support by PEFsa |
Support for mentors is critical to improve student facilitation and support in clinical practice. Protected time was necessary for SOMsb to attend workshops. The intervention showed that better patient care outcomes increased collaboration between mentors, PEFs, and university and improved mentor assessment skills. |
Durham et al [ |
To develop skills in mentorship using a developmental program | A developmental program to support mentors |
The program promoted high standards of mentoring knowledge and skills and improved understanding and accountability of the mentorship roles. A tripartite role benefitted the institution and the SOM. |
Clements et al [ |
To evaluate the core elements of a transition support program for newly qualified midwives from undergraduate and postgraduate nursing program | A transition support program for midwives |
A structured support during this transitional phase is necessary to ensure quality and safe practice of midwives. Supernumerary time was highly valued but not always available. Midwives appreciated study days, which allowed them to share their clinical experiences and debrief. The program promoted peer midwife to midwife support. |
Thunes and Sekse [ |
To gain a better understanding of midwifery students’ first encounter in the maternity wards and what was essential to them in the learning environment | A planned clinical practice approach |
Student-mentor relationships are crucial for students’ achievements and learning outcomes. Midwifery students need to feel valued and included in the team, learning was based on students’ expectations, understanding, and previous experience. Mutual engagement with mentors is necessary. |
Dixon et al [ |
To explore the retention of new graduates in midwifery practice following participation in the MFYPc program | An MFYP program |
The program provided mentor support to new midwifery graduate and increased their confidence in the first year of practice as a registered midwife. |
Moran and Banks [ |
To explore the experiences and the value of “SOMs” | SOMs and the value they hold to this role |
Mentors valued their role and found it to be essential for the supervision of midwifery students during clinical practice. Students value mentors for continuity, feedback, and planning. |
Hogan et al [ |
To explore the benefits of a peer mentoring program for midwifery students | A peer mentoring program in midwifery clinical placement |
Benefits to the mentee—reduced anxiety of first-year students, smoother transition to clinical practice, mentors were encouraging, understanding, reassuring, and positive. Benefits to the mentor—building communication skills, self-confidence, and increased employability. |
Kemp et al [ |
To develop a model of mentorship for Ugandan midwifery students to improve the quality of midwifery care | The MOMENTUMd project 2015-2017 |
Showed improved knowledge, skills, and attitudes of students and mentors. Improved audit scores at clinical sites. Improved confidence; however, mentors did not assess students’ clinical skills in practice. |
Tweedie et al [ |
To evaluate the model of coaching and collaborative learning and the role of the clinical education midwife | Collaborative coaching and learning model adapted from the CLiPe model by Lobo et al [ |
Improved students’ confidence in knowledge and clinical and communication skills. Student support through a clinical education midwife. Ensured partnership between HEIf and hospitals. |
aPEF: practice education facilitator.
bSOM: sign-off mentor.
cMFYP: Midwifery First Year of Practice.
dMOMENTUM: Developing a Model of Mentorship for Ugandan Midwifery.
eCLiP: Collaborative Learning in Practice.
fHEI: higher education institution.
The objective of this review was to identify interventions available to strengthen the current clinical support for midwifery students globally. Interventions identified in this review included training programs, workshops, and one intervention guideline.
In total, 7 of the 10 studies (70%) implemented mentorship or preceptorship programs [
Meta-analysis of the significant findings was conducted to identify how interventions can be combined, adapted, and integrated to produce a more robust conclusion on strengthening midwifery students’ clinical support during practice. Six codes emanated from the significant findings, as seen in
These constructed codes were further analyzed to identify a more intense understanding of how to strengthen mentorship in midwifery. The review adopted a thematic content analysis approach [
Partnership between the clinical placement facility and the higher education institution is essential when designing an intervention for clinical support of midwifery students
Partnership includes liaison between various stakeholders such as university educators, nurse managers, government personnel (if necessary), Mentors or preceptors or clinical facilitators, and expert advisory groups
Continuous collaboration between the university and the hospital through a link lecturer is important
Consultation with clinical mentors, midwifery students, students’ support services, quality assurance teams, and previous cohort of students
Presentations ranging from 3 hours to half-day workshops for clinical mentors included case scenarios, Objective Structured Clinical Examinations for evaluating mentor knowledge and skills
Structured clinical support program for students, which includes student rotation plans, supernumerary time, and study days. Includes support for clinical mentors from universities, colleges, colleagues, and senior managers
Structured Midwifery First Year of Practice program for newly qualified midwives
10-day study program validated by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) guidelines
Peer-to-peer mentoring—3-hour training of third-year students (clinical mentor)
Pilot sampling of intervention was adopted in 2 studies
NMC Standards framework for nursing and midwifery education (2018) [
Australian and New Zealand Support Services Association Incorporated guidelines
Workbooks, portfolios, booklets, information pack, and a toolkit
Role of the clinical mentor and mentee—named preceptors
Outline of the program—practical component or areas of practice or placement schedules or clinical rotations, study days or skills education days, relationship building, communication skills, feedback, and debriefing opportunities
Professional issues—NMC guidelines or standards for mentors
Responsibilities or role expectations of clinical mentors—include boundary restrictions
Self-care or support services available and referrals
The included papers revealed that improved partnerships and consultations were vital in supporting students during clinical placement. This theme developed from 2 subthemes: establishing stronger partnerships between NEIs and clinical facilities and improving consultation between midwifery educators, practitioners, and students.
In 2011, the transition model of preceptorship began through regular meetings between the nurse managers and heads of departments at NEIs [
The review revealed that main stakeholders such as the nurse managers, regional or placement coordinators, clinical preceptors or mentors, midwifery practitioners, practice educators, or link lecturers have their roles in supporting midwifery students in clinical placements. Six papers showed that knowing the role of the mentor or preceptor, a named preceptor, contact details, clinical rotation, study days, and supernumerary time were factors that influenced the degree of clinical support offered to students by midwifery practitioners [
Mentor relationships affect the students’ perceptions of clinical practice. Students felt they depended on mentors to teach, show, and help them [
Midwifery practitioners in clinical placements often feel unprepared to teach students due to the lack of training and support that is available to them. Without the necessary support and training, midwifery practitioners cannot fulfill a mentor’s expected roles and responsibilities. Hence, mentor support and training are vital ingredients to improve the clinical support of midwifery students during placement. Two subthemes, namely, the quality of clinical support depends on the training content; and the training duration and structure.
Durham et al's [
This review identified clinical support interventions that range from a 3-hour face-to-face training session to a 10-day study program and extended to a 12-month program. Training sessions were either informal or unplanned or formal and planned and took place in the clinical placement site. Findings showed that mentors involved in informal, shorter, or fragmented training sessions could not attend all the sessions as they experienced challenges with leaving the wards and received poor support from senior colleagues and managers [
Themes identified in this systematic scoping review are the significant results emanating from tried and tested interventions of previous studies. Therefore, the results that were recurrently seen in the included studies guided the researchers to identify core considerations when planning and developing mentorship training programs. These 4 subthemes are foundational for supporting any mentorship training program, and hence, the researchers propose these subthemes as a framework (see
A framework to guide mentorship.
This review identified interventions to support midwifery students during clinical practice. Included interventions were mentor support programs, mentorship models, models of preceptorship, mentor developmental programs, and collaborative learning in practice models. Findings showed that mentorship was the most practiced intervention in supporting students globally, producing benefits to both students and mentors. Additionally, the benefits of mentorship extended to improved patient care outcomes and collaborations between NEI and clinical facilities. However, mentorship training and support for midwifery practitioners who undertake the mentor role are not well established, and concerns over graduates’ competence are worrisome. Therefore, it is necessary to follow clear guidance in developing successful mentorship training programs. The analysis of included papers highlighted essential aspects to consider when developing mentorship training programs. This involves strengthening partnership and consultation by establishing more robust relationships between NEI and clinical facilities and subsequently improving consultations between midwifery educators, practitioners, and students. Providing mentor support through training is essential, and therefore, the training content, structure, and duration of the mentorship training should accommodate clinical expectations.
The quality of clinical support for midwifery students is a concern despite efforts toward improvements. This review showed that mentorship is the blueprint for supporting midwifery students to achieve the expected competence needed to become safe and independent practitioners. Mentorship benefits are seen globally, especially in many developed countries, and are effective in clinically preparing students for role-taking [
Continued consultation opportunities contribute to a better understanding of students’ clinical expectations [
In South Africa, midwifery educators and practitioners share the responsibilities of mentoring midwifery students during clinical placement. Improving consultation between midwifery educators (from NEIs) and midwifery practitioners (from clinical facilities) is needed to improve students’ support. Student-centered learning approach in higher education institutions promotes student responsibility and accountability for own learning outcomes. As a result, midwifery students understand that establishing good mentorship relationships with midwifery educators and practitioners is crucial in achieving clinical learning outcomes. In an attempt to review the current midwifery preregistration programs, the NMC supports and empowers students to become active or self-directed learners [
The findings from this review highlighted the importance of conducting a well-structured mentorship training program. These programs should align with the learning objectives stipulated by nursing councils and NEIs. Hence, maintaining strong partnerships and regular consultation between relevant stakeholders (NEIs and clinical facilities) is necessary to improve the clinical support of midwifery students. Furthermore, the training program’s content should contain the students’ learning objectives, the process of mentorship, essential midwifery competencies, assessment and support materials, contact details of midwifery educators, and guidelines to follow during the mentorship process. Through content-specific and contextualized mentorship training programs and support, midwifery practitioners should be able to carry out mentorship roles and responsibilities with ease.
Empowering midwifery practitioners through mentorship training and support is advantageous to the quality of service provided at a clinical facility. Yet, clinical challenges remain a barrier to attend training workshops conducted off-site. Besides, too lengthy training programs are also an inconvenience in fragmented working schedules. Therefore, on-site, short-term, on-the-job mentorship training approaches that integrate theory-related instruction are likely to complement a “hands-on” approach in clinical mentorship.
Conducting systematic scoping reviews is a major strength in research as it ensures that only high-quality papers are included for data extraction. The review applied a mixed methodology, which provided a more detailed analysis of the findings. This review aims to identify the various interventions to strengthen midwifery clinical support and proposes a framework to guide mentorship training. The framework to guide mentorship training (
The limitations of the study are as follows. First, this review was restricted to clinical support interventions available to midwifery students only and may have limited the clinical support interventions available across nursing disciplines. However, the selected population of this review was midwifery students only and hence did not affect the study results. Second, a restricted timeframe over the last decade (2010 to 2020) may have excluded older but more applicable models of interventions. In view of this limitation, the results may have been short-played. Third, the review excluded the implications of mentorship to other categories of nurses, and hence, this should be explored further in future studies.
The results of this review are likely to assist program developers and midwifery educators to participate in mentorship training and support programs. Strengthening mentorship through training opportunities for midwifery practitioners creates a platform to network and collaborates for the betterment of midwifery clinical practice and education. Given the limited papers retrieved from African countries in this review, there is a need for more research studies and publications on midwifery clinical education in African countries.
Across the globe, mentorship training programs were the most common clinical support available to midwifery students. Mentorship in maternity departments is crucial, and mentors require the support of their colleagues, senior managers, and midwifery educators to ensure mentorship success. The ultimate success of mentorship lies in improved patient care outcomes. Therefore, mentorship training and support for midwifery students should not be side-lined because the safety of our patients is in the hands of these students currently in training.
Mentorship training and support programs alone are insufficient to meet role players’ needs. It is important to strengthen partnerships between NEIs and clinical facilities as it allows midwifery educators to become involved in the training and support of midwifery practitioners ceasing consultation and collaboration opportunities. By expanding and promoting engagements between midwifery students, practitioners, and educators, mentorship in midwifery becomes an equally important 3-fold shared responsibility, and this is the goal mentorship program developers want to achieve.
So, mentorship program developers want to advance the scope of mentorship. Attempts to revive mentorship training opportunities are necessary. Despite global attempts to strengthen mentorship, the competence of midwifery students produced remains a significant concern. The framework to guide mentorship training proposed in this review is likely to encourage midwifery educators to pursue more mentorship training opportunities with ease and hence, improve the quality of midwifery clinical education.
A structured mentorship training program to support midwifery practitioners in their mentorship roles and responsibilities is necessary to make improvements in the quality of clinical support. Midwifery students who are well-supported during clinical placement assures that the next generation of midwives are safe and competent practitioners who are likely to contribute to positive maternal health outcomes globally and in South Africa.
Medical Subject Headings
nursing education institution
Nursing and Midwifery Council
Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses
South African Nursing Council
The authors would like to thank Dr Claudine Muraraneza for her contribution during the screening process. The University of KwaZulu-Natal supported the publication of this paper.
All data generated and analyzed from this study will be available on request.
HA conceptualized and prepared the review under the guidance of SWM. Both authors contributed to reviewing the draft manuscript and approved the final version of this results paper.
None declared.