Bachelor in Science in Midwifery Honours Degree programme

MW1204 -Sociology and Sharing the Women's Experience (10 ECTS)

Learning Outcomes

Following completion of this module the student should be able to:

Unit 1 Sociology

• Demonstrate an awareness of what the discipline of sociology is;
  
• Discuss relationships between the individual, family and society;
  
• Discuss the role of the family in contemporary society;
  
• Discuss the cultural representations of the female body;
  
• Discuss the principle competing ideologies about childbirth;
  
• Discuss the social model vis-à-vis the medical model of childbirth,
  

Unit 2 Sharing the Woman’s Experience

• Demonstrate the ability to listen to the woman and hear her experiences
  
• Value the realities of women and their families’ experiences
  
• Identify women’s support networks
  
• Identify the development and needs of different family forms and the community and other supports available to them
  
• Demonstrate an understanding of health care, in particular primary and maternity care, and its relationship to women, families and communities
  
• Discuss the choices for maternity care in Ireland
  
• Demonstrate an understanding of childbirth as a normal healthy life event;
  
• Discuss society’s views of childbirth, motherhood and parenting and the values it places on these;
  
• Demonstrate the ability to negotiate an effective partnership with the woman
  

Module Learning Aims

Unit 1 Sociology

Pregnancy and birth are intensely personal experiences for women. Yet they are also social processes:
each woman undertakes childbirth in multi-layered contexts that include the family, community and
institutional settings where birth is facilitated.
The aim of this unit on sociology is to enable students to build into their practice as midwives,
perspectives and research on birth and mothering drawn from the disciplines of sociology, anthropology
and feminist theory. In year one, students will concentrate on the history of midwifery and obstetric
medicine in economically advanced societies and the contexts of birth and motherhood for women in
contemporary Ireland.

Unit 2 Sharing the Woman’s Experience

The organisation of maternity care in Ireland and, in particular, the delivery of midwifery led care, is such
that exposing the midwifery student to the concept of continuity of care/carer is limited in the
environment of a tertiary obstetric referral maternity hospital.
The aim of this unit is to attempt to provide the midwifery student with an opportunity to share and listen
to one woman’s experience of her pregnancy, birth and the postnatal period. It is envisaged that this
experience will provide the student with a social perspective in which the processes of pregnancy and
birth take place.

Recommended Reading List

• Anderson T. (2004) The misleading myth of choice: the continuing oppression of women in childbirth. In
  Informed Choice in Maternity Care. (Kirkham M., ed), Palgrave Macmillan, Houndmills, pp. 257-264.
  
• Association for Improvement in the Maternity Services, Ireland AIMSI (2015) 'What Matters to You?' 2014
  Report on Consent in the Irish Maternity System. AIMSI, Dublin.
  
• Barclay L., Everitt L., Rogan F., Schmied V. and Wyllie A. (1997) Becoming a mother-an analysis of
  women’s experiences of early motherhood. Journal of Advanced Nursing 25, 719-728.
  
• Begley C., Devane D. and Clarke M., (2009) An evaluation of midwifery led care in the Health Service
  Executive North Eastern Area. In The Report of the MidU Study. School of Nursing and Midwifery, Trinity College Dublin.
  
• Begley C & Devane D (2003) The Invisible Woman: Maternity Care in Ireland (1) The Practising Midwife 6 (5), 10 – 12.
  
• Begley C & Devane D (2003) The Rebirth of Midwifery Led Care in Ireland (2) The Practising Midwife 6 (6) 26 – 29.
  
• Begley C.M. (2001) 'Giving midwifery care': student midwives' views of their working role, Midwifery, 17(1), 24-34.
  
• Benn, M. (1998) Madonna and Child. Towards a New Politics of Motherhood. Jonathon Cape: London
  
• Belenky M.F., Clinchy B.M., Goldberger N.R. and Tarule, J.M. (1986) Women’s Ways of Knowing. Basic Books Inc., United States.
  
• Carr P. (1992) Labour relations: mothers and hospital procedure. Irish Journal of Sociology 2, 20-41.
  
• Comhairle na n-Ospideal (1976) Development of Hospital Maternity Services – A Discussion Document. May 1976. Comhairle na n-Ospideal. Dublin.
  
• Cusk R. (2008) A Life’s Work. On Becoming a Mother. Faber and Faber, London.
  
• CUIDIU (2011) Online Consumer Guide to Maternity Services in Ireland. http://www.bump2babe.ie/
  
• Davis-Floyd R., Barclay L., Daviss B.A. and Tritten J., (2009) Birth Models that Work University of California Press, Berkeley.
  
• Davis-Floyd R.E. (2003) Birth as an American Rite of Passage.2nd edn. University of California Press, London.
  
• Davis Floyd, R. (2002) The technocratic, humanistic, and holistic paradigms of childbirth MIDIRS Midwifery Digest 12 (4), 500 – 506.
  
• Devane D., Begley C. & Murphy-Lawless J. (2007) Childbirth policies and practices in Ireland: the
  journey towards midwifery-led care. Midwifery 23 (1), 92-101.
  
• Edwards N. (2005) Birthing Autonomy: Women’s Experiences of Planning Home Births. Routledge, London.
  
• Edwards N. (2004) Why can’t women just say no? And does it really matter? In Informed Choice in
  Maternity Care. (Kirkham M., ed), Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, Hampshire.
  
• Gaskin, I.M. (2011) Birth Matters. A Midwife’s Manifesta. Pinter and Martin Ltd. London
  
• Gaskin, I.M. (2003) Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth. Bantam: New York.
  
• Goulding, J. (2004) The Light in the Window. Poolbeg Press: Dublin.
  
• Hunt, S.C. and Symonds, A. (1995) The Social Meaning of Midwifery Macmillan Press: Basingstoke.
  
• Graham H. & Oakley A. (1981) Competing ideologies of reproduction: medical and maternal
  perspectives on pregnancy. In Women, Health and Reproduction. (Roberts H., ed), Routledge and Kegan Paul, London:
  
• Jordanova L. (1989) Sexual Visions: Images of Gender in Science and Medicine between the
  Eighteenth and Twentieth Centuries. Harvester Wheatsheaf, Brighton. (Seminal work, no later edition)
  
• Kennedy P. (2010) Healthcare reform: maternity service provision in Ireland. Health Policy 97(2-3), 145–151.
  
• Kennedy P. (2004) Motherhood in Ireland. Mercier press, Dublin. – Chapter 5 in particular
  
• Kennedy P. (2002) Maternity in Ireland: A Woman Centred Perspective. The Liffey Press, Dublin. -
  Chapters 2, 4, 5 and 6 in particular.
  
• Kennedy, F. (2002) Cottage to Creche – Family Change in Ireland IPA: Dublin.
  
• Kennedy P. & Murphy-Lawless J. (1998) Returning Birth to Women: Challenging Policies and
  Practices. Centre for Women’s Studies/Women’s Education Research and Resource Centre, Dublin.
  
• Kinder P. 2001 Report of the Maternity Services Review Group. North Eastern Health Board. North Eastern Health Board: Kells
  
• Kirkham, M. (2010) The Midwife Mother Relationship 2nd edn. Kirkham, M. (ed) Palgrave Macmillan: Houndmills. 250-271.
  
• Kirkham M (2003) Birth Centres: A Social Model for Maternity Care Oxford: Books for Midwives.
  
• Kirkham M. (2000) The Midwife-Mother Relationship. Macmillan, Basingstoke.
  
• Kitzinger, S. (2006) Birth Crisis. Routledge Publishing: United Kingdom.
  
• Kitzinger, S. (2005) The Politics of Birth. Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann: Edinburgh.
  
• KPMG (2008) Independent review of maternity and gynaecology services in the Greater Dublin Area. KPMG: Dublin.
  
• Mander R. (2001) Supportive Care and Midwifery. Blackwell, Oxford.
  
• Martin E. (1987) The Woman in the Body: A Cultural Analysis of Reproduction. Beacon Press, Boston. (Seminal work, no later edition)
  
• McCluskey, D. (1997) Conceptions of Health and Illness in Ireland In Cleary, A. & Treacy M P (eds) The
  Sociology of Health and Illness in Ireland. Dublin: University College Dublin Press.
  
• McHugh N. (2007) Blue moons and wise hands: Birth knowledge and stories of mindful midwifery. In The
  Art and Soul of Midwifery: Creativity in Practice, Education and Research (Davies L. (ed), Churchill Livingstone Elsevier, Philadelphia, pp.111-125.
  
• Murphy-Lawless J. (1998) Reading Birth and Death: A History of Obstetric Thinking. Cork University Press, Cork. (Seminal work, no later edition)
  
• Squire C. (ed.) (2009) The Social Context of Birth, 2nd edn. Radcliffe, Oxford.
  
• Stewart, M., (2004) Pregnancy, Birth and Maternity Care: Feminist Perspectives Books for Midwives: Edinburgh.
  
• Symonds, A. & Hunt, S.C. (1996) The Midwife and Society: Perspectives, Policies and Practice MacMillan: Basingstoke.
  
• Wagner, M. (2001) Fish can’t see water: the need to humanize birth. International Journal of Gynaecology and Obstetrics 75 supp (1) 25 – 37.
  
• Walsh D & Newburn M, (2002a) Towards a social model of childbirth: part one – British Journal of Midwifery 10 (8), 476 – 481.
  
• Walsh D & Newburn M, (2002b) Towards a social model of childbirth: part two – British Journal of Midwifery 10 (9), 540 – 544.

* Additional readings will be given for each unit of learning.