A qualitative investigation into the lived experiences of newly graduated midwives during their transition period in Erbil

Midwifery can be a stressful profession for newly graduated midwives because of the increasing rate of childbirth and the demanding environment of maternity departments. New graduate midwives are provided with a transition period program right after their graduation, which can have a significant effect on their future career. The present study was carried out in order to find out the newly graduate midwives’ feelings, concerns, and needs through their lived experiences during their transition period in the Maternity Hospital of Erbil, the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The present investigation was a qualitative phenomenological study in which the required data were collected through semi-structured in-depth interviews with 15 new graduate female midwives who participated in their transition period in Maternity Hospital of Erbil during December to April 2018. The collected data were analyzed by Van Manen’s method. Analyzing the collected data led to emergence of four main themes namely difficulty to gain confidence”, “supportive environment and colleagues”, “difficulty to adapt to the demanding environment”, and “decision to quit midwifery profession It was concluded that providing the newly graduated midwives with supportive environments and helping colleagues can help them obtain sufficient confidence in order to put their theoretical knowledge into practice, stay in the profession, and become professional midwives in the future.

A qualitative investigation into the lived experiences of newly graduated midwives during their transition period in Erbil Keywords:

newly graduated midwives , qualitative study , lived experience , inductive content analysis method