An evaluation of a teaching strategy: The use of literature when teaching pre-registration midwifery students on pregnancy and loss

Abstract

Facilitating emotional intelligence and insight in midwifery can be challenging, and the purpose of this paper is to illustrate how this can be nurtured through the use of poetry, in particular Seamus Heaney's poem Elegy for a Still Born Child. Students' ability to gain insight into the experience of bereaved parents and achieve an emotional grasp of the situation through vicarious experience were evaluated. Qualitative data from evaluations was content analysed and significant themes emerged. Students' comments clearly support the suggestion that use of this poem has enhanced emotional intelligence. The data also indicates that vicarious experience gained through reading this poem has helped to nurture sensitivity and professional insight into the impact of still birth on a father.