Pilot of ©Solihull Approach Training for Undergraduate Midwifery Students

The ©Solihull Approach Antenatal Foundation Training is a recommended programme in the Healthy Child Healthy Future, Universal Child Health Promotion Programme and within NICE guidelines. To date the training for midwives has been facilitated as Continuing Professional Development, however there has been recommendation for incorporation of the training within Undergraduate Midwifery Education. To this end a pilot of the ©Solihull Approach training was organised and implemented for final year midwifery students within the authors’ institution.

Aim: Evaluate the provision of the ©Solihull Approach training at undergraduate level.


Objectives:
Provide the ©Solihull Approach training for final year midwifery students
Administer questionnaires to assess the level of knowledge and understanding both before and after the training
Analyse and disseminate the findings
Methodology: This was a mixed method evaluation study utilising pre and post-test questionnaires. A purposive sample of 16 final year midwifery students were invited to participate. The questionnaires were analysed using descriptive statistics with thematic analysis of free text comments. As the initiative was considered low risk a ‘proportionate review’ application was submitted and subsequently approved by the Faculty Research Ethics Committee.


Findings: Four themes emerged: student midwives’ previous experience of the ©Solihull Approach in clinical practice; awareness of the theoretical underpinnings of the ©Solihull Approach; benefits for clinical practice and timing of the ©Solihull Approach training within the UG programme of education.
Conclusions and implications: The initiative was positively evaluated and considered an enhancement to current education provision. Students indicated an increased level of knowledge and an enhanced perception of confidence in their ability to provide antenatal education following the training. However, the initiative would have been welcomed earlier in the education programme. The ©Solihull Approach training will be provided at Undergraduate level and introduced earlier in the programme with the subsequent potential to incrementally build upon this foundation and include further tiers of the ©Solihull Approach training such as ‘Getting Ready for Baby’ programme. The impact of the initiative in clinical practice warrants further investigation.