Self-perceived competency of midwives in Kenya: A descriptive cross-sectional study

African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine

 
 
Field Value
 
Title Self-perceived competency of midwives in Kenya: A descriptive cross-sectional study
 
Creator Tallam, Edna C. Kaura, Doreen Mash, Robert
 
Subject education; primary health care; reproductive health midwifery; nurse-midwife; education; competence; competency
Description Background: Midwifery competence is demonstrated in the context of midwifery education, regulation and practice to support the quality delivery of care to women. Midwives with appropriate competencies can deliver up to 80% of maternal health services. The pre-service education programmes in Kenya offers different midwifery competencies for the various programmes, influencing expected outcomes in practice.Aim: This study aimed to assess midwives’ perceived level of competence based on the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) standards in Kenya.Setting: The study was conducted in selected public health facilities in Kenya.Methods: An observational cross-sectional design was used. A multi-stage sampling technique was used to select the counties and health facilities and random sampling to determine 576 midwives. Data were collected using a self-administered assessment tool adopted from the ICM competency domains.Results: A total of 495 (85.9%) midwife respondents participated in this study, of which 389 (78.6%) respondents in all training categories were highly competent in the four ICM domains. The midwives’ qualifications and facility level were associated with their self-perceived competence during practice. Those trained in the direct-entry midwifery programme were more competent, p = 0.016 (Kruskal wallis H = 8.432).Conclusion: Midwives’ competence was influenced by the level of education and facility where they practice. All pre-service midwifery programme graduates must meet the essential ICM competencies and need to enhance continuous professional development (CPD) programmes and facility-based mentorship for the midwives.Contribution: To optimise midwifery-led practice in primary health care, midwifery competence should be enhanced in pre-service and in-service education for improved health outcomes.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor
Date 2022-12-14
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — Quantitative-descriptive cross-sectional study
Format text/html application/epub+zip text/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/phcfm.v14i1.3477
 
Source African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine; Vol 14, No 1 (2022); 9 pages 2071-2936 2071-2928
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://phcfm.org/index.php/phcfm/article/view/3477/5885 https://phcfm.org/index.php/phcfm/article/view/3477/5886 https://phcfm.org/index.php/phcfm/article/view/3477/5887 https://phcfm.org/index.php/phcfm/article/view/3477/5888
 
Coverage Africa; South Africa; Kenya; East Africa 2019-2022 —
Rights Copyright (c) 2022 Edna C. Tallam, Doreen Kaura, Robert Mash https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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