Abstract
Objective
To reveal the component factors and related factors for the abilities that midwifery faculty members expect midwifery instructors to possess.
Subjects and methods
We conducted a survey on the level of importance (from 1 to 5) of 88 actions related to the basic attributes and general job competency of midwifery instructors. Between June and September 2011, we distributed a letter requesting cooperation and a survey form to midwifery faculty members with more than 3 years of experience at 139 midwife training institutions across Japan (except for those in the 9 prefectures affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake). We analyzed 185 valid responses using factor analysis to extract component factors and related factors, and we used the Mann-Whitney U test and Kruskal-Wallis test to investigate associations between the factors.
Results
The mean (standard deviation) number of years of experience as a midwifery faculty member was 8.97 (5.88), and that as a clinical midwife was 9.50 (5.63). Statistical analysis extracted the following 5 factors: "leadership ability in midwifery care as a practitioner", "goal-oriented teaching focusing on student understanding", "creative teaching depending on the status of students", "application and adjustment of human resources to meet the conditions", and "self-control and motivation to improve leadership ability". We collectively called these factors "abilities of midwifery instructors expected by midwifery faculty members". Cronbach's alpha coefficient was .974 for all factors and ranged from .894 to .933 for individual factors. In all midwifery faculty members, the mean value on "leadership ability in midwifery care as a practitioner" was highest among all factors. In addition, a significant difference was noted between the years of experience in clinical midwifery and "self-control and motivation to improve leadership ability" (p<.01), suggesting that this ability was considered important by midwifery faculty members with many years of clinical experience compared with those with only a few years of clinical experience.
Conclusion
Of the 5 factors on abilities expected of midwifery instructors by the midwifery faculty members, "leadership ability in midwifery care as a practitioner" was considered by all faculty members to be the most fundamental. Furthermore, those with comparatively longer clinical experience placed importance on the need for high-level leadership ability based on their own experiences as practitioners.
