Midwifery students' significant birth stories: Telling the drama, Part 1

Abstract

This article presents the first part of a narrative inquiry which aimed to explore the value students place on storytelling, and the significant birth stories they hear and tell during their midwifery programme. Here the findings of the analysis of the significant ‘birth stories’ are explored. Participants consisted of five final-year midwifery students, on a 3-year BSc (Hons) midwifery programme in 2007, from one university in the south east of England. Data were collected through two focus groups, and analyzed narratively. Four types of ‘story-telling’ themes emerged, each with a different learning purpose: dramatic stories helped to affirm students' decision-making in practice; humorous stories, embedded in memories, are deliberately retold to help other students ‘not to take anything for granted’ in practice; emotional and traumatic stories facilitate reflection on practice; and lecturers' well-told stories influence students' practice beyond the original telling. The findings suggest that stories do assist students to link theory to practice and facilitate deeper learning. They have implications for students, midwifery mentors and lecturers.