On international day of the midwife we focus on caring for ourselves with student midwife Madyasa Vijber. Madyasa is doing her final internship in midwifery, is a doula, and is regularly involved in feminist and anti-racist activism in the Netherlands. 

She speaks out about our lack of resistance to the system in the form of self-care and raises awareness about mental health of midwives and midwifery students.

Further reading:

Websites

•  https://thenapministry.wordpress.com/
•  https://radhawilsonjeffries.co.uk/

Books

•  Lorde, A. (2007). Sister Outsider. Crossing Press.- Beaumont, E., Durkin, M., 
• Kirkham, M. (2000). The Midwife-mother Relationship. Macmillan Publishers.
• Nagoski, E., & Nagoski, A. D. (2020). Burnout. Penguin Random House.
• Brown, B. (2012). The Power of Vulnerability: Teachings on Authenticity, Connection and Courage (1ste ed.). Sounds True, Inc.

Articles:

• Hollins Martin, C. J., & Carson, J. (2016). Compassion for others, self-compassion, quality of life and mental well-being measures and their association with compassion fatigue and burnout in student midwives: A quantitative survey. Midwifery, 34, 239–244. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.midw.2015.11.002
• Durkin, M., Beaumont, E., Hollins Martin, C. J., & Carson, J. (2016). A pilot study exploring the relationship between self-compassion, self-judgement, self-kindness, compassion, professional quality of life and wellbeing among UK community nurses. Nurse Education Today, 46, 109–114. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2016.08.030
• Warmelink, J. C., Hoijtink, K., Noppers, M., Wiegers, T. A., de Cock, T. P., Klomp, T., & Hutton, E. K. (2015). An explorative study of factors contributing to the job satisfaction of primary care midwives. Midwifery, 31(4), 482–488. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.midw.2014.12.003
• Fenwick, J., Sidebotham, M., Gamble, J., & Creedy, D. K. (2018). The emotional and professional wellbeing of Australian midwives: A comparison between those providing continuity of midwifery care and those not providing continuity. Women and Birth, 31(1), 38–43. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wombi.2017.06.013

Contractions is produced by Rodante van der Waal and Vinny Taylor. Contact: Rodantevanderwaal@gmail.com

Bahareh Goodarzi is a midwife, teacher and researcher at the Midwifery Science department of Amsterdam UMC, The Netherlands. She has started two councils on diversity, inclusivity and anti-discrimination, one at the academy for midwifery in Amsterdam and Groningen, and one at the royal national  organisation of midwives in the Netherlands (KNOV). Goodarzi's research focusses on risk selection in maternal and newborn care, particularly on the risk of inequity in care outcomes. 

Further reading: 

• Burnett (2020) Dismantling racism in education: In 2020, the year of the nurse & midwife, “it's time.”
• Zanting (2020) The ‘exotic other’ in medical curricula: Rethinking cultural diversity in course manuals.
• Zaidi (2021) From the “top-down” and the “bottom-up”: Centering Foucault’s notion of biopower and individual accountability within systemic racism
• Lim (2021) Students’ perceptions on race in medical education and healthcare.
• Vyas (2020) Hidden in Plain Sight — Reconsidering the Use
  of Race Correction in Clinical Algorithms.

Contractions is produced by Rodante van der Waal and Vinny Taylor. Contact: Rodantevanderwaal@gmail.com

dr. Michelle Sadler is one of the forefront academics and activists globally fighting  obstetric violence. Sadler argues for the importance of recognizing obstetric violence and calling it out as such. She is an associate researcher at the Adolfo University in Chile, and Director of the Chilean Observatory of Obstetric Violence.

We spoke on a philosophy of childbirth conference in Alcalá, Spain. 

Further reading: 

• Sadler (2021) COVID-19 as a risk factor for obstetric violence. 
• Sadler (2016) Moving beyond disrespect and abuse: addressing the structural dimensions of obstetric violence. 

Contractions is produced by Rodante van der Waal and Vinny Taylor. Contact: Rodantevanderwaal@gmail.com