Midwives’ occupational wellbeing and its determinants. A cross-sectional study among newly qualified and experienced Dutch midwives | 87 variety in work activities as well as interventions which focus on the development of PR (such as hope, optimism, resilience and self-efficacy) might contribute to an increased wellbeing of midwives. Based on our findings, we recommend building awareness among professional organisations and the profession itself about the importance of job and personal resources for midwives’ occupational wellbeing. For example, it is important for midwives to retain certain job resources, such as a degree of autonomy and variety in their work. The recognition of these resources for midwives’ occupational wellbeing must be considered for future developments in the organisation of midwifery care. Also, professional organisations must be aware of the impact of demands such as working hours and rest times on midwife’s mental wellbeing. Training programmes with a focus on conserving and optimising job and personal resources for midwives could enhance midwives’ occupational wellbeing, reducing levels of exhaustion and strengthening work engagement. Based on our findings, the need for the midwifery curriculum to prepare students for working in practice is also about building awareness of the job demands and resources that midwives will face after graduation. Furthermore, strengthening and optimising students’ individual personal resources before graduation could contribute to the building of a sustainable workforce. CONCLUSION Based on the findings of this study, the occupational wellbeing of Dutch midwives seems to be better than that of midwives abroad: a smaller percentage of midwives showing burnout symptoms and a larger number having high work engagement. The percentage of midwives with burnout symptoms is relatively low due to the low scores on cynicism. However, the percentage of midwives with high scores on exhaustion is concerning. Dutch NQMs had the highest odds of high work engagement compared to experienced colleagues. Being a young midwife with less working experience did not harm their work engagement and did not lead to burnout symptoms This study added the important role of job and personal resources as determinants of high work engagement among midwives. Optimising job and personal resources for midwives could help to retain midwives in the profession, enhance their occupational wellbeing and improve the quality of the care that they provide.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTk4NDMw