Evaluating an internal quality assurance process in midwifery education
| ISRCTN | ISRCTN14492910 |
|---|---|
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1186/ISRCTN14492910 |
- Submission date
- 20/08/2024
- Registration date
- 26/08/2024
- Last edited
- 23/08/2024
- Recruitment status
- Recruiting
- Overall study status
- Ongoing
- Condition category
- Pregnancy and Childbirth
Plain English summary of protocol
Background and study aims
The World Health Organization and the International Confederation of Midwives stress the critical role of accreditation in improving the quality of midwifery education. In many high-income countries, midwifery education programmes regularly perform self-assessments to maintain a learning environment where the programme content, learning opportunities, and facilities effectively align with educational goals. These self-assessments provide valuable insights and recommendations for enhancing educational quality in anticipation of formal accreditation.
However, less than half of the world's countries have established accreditation systems for midwifery education. In many low-income countries, midwifery education programs fall short of meeting accreditation standards. Accreditation serves to formally recognize the processes that ensure education programmes comply with nationally established standards, thereby ensuring that graduates achieve the required minimum level of competence. Despite its importance, research in this area remains limited. To strengthen midwifery education in Bangladesh, the government has initiated measures for an internal quality assurance self-assessment process for midwifery education programmes, in addition to the national accreditation system. The overall aim of this study is to evaluate the internal quality assurance process in midwifery education aimed at achieving national accreditation standards in Bangladesh. The specific aims are to evaluate to what extent education standards are met in the internal quality assurance process at midwifery education institutions. The study aims to determine the effectiveness of the internal quality assurance process in producing competent and confident educators and midwives and identify contextual factors influencing the internal quality assurance process to reach national accreditation standards for midwifery education.
Who can participate?
Midwifery faculty members, such as clinical supervisors, librarians, computer lab and clinical simulation managers, all midwifery educators, and all final-semester students at 31 public and private midwifery education institutions.
What does the study involve?
This study will be directed by the principles of process evaluation for complex interventions. An internal quality assurance self-assessment intervention, and to ensure sustainable implementation the Plan-Do-Study-Act cycle, will be introduced across 31 private and public midwifery education institutions. Data collection will involve self-assessment questionnaires and focus group discussions, with participants comprising midwifery faculty and final-semester students.
What are the possible benefits and risks of participating?
The benefits of participating are to contribute to generating new evidence which in turn can lead to strengthening internal quality assurance of midwifery education in Bangladesh. There are no evident risks for the participants
Where is the study run from?
University of Gothenburg (Sweden)
When is the study starting and how long is it expected to run for?
August 2023 to December 2028
Who is funding the study?
United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)
Who is the main contact?
Malin Bogren, malin.bogren@gu.se
Contact information
Scientific, Principal Investigator
Institute of Health and Care Sciences
Sahlgrenska Academy
University of Gothenburg
Arvid Wallgrens backe, House 1
Gothenburg
413 46
Sweden
 ORCID ID |
0000-0003-2432-8097 |
|---|---|
| Phone | +46 (0)738099508 |
| malin.bogren@gu.se |
Public, Scientific
Institute of Health and Care Sciences
Sahlgrenska Academy
University of Gothenburg
Arvid Wallgrens backe, House 1
Gothenburg
413 46
Sweden
| ORCID ID |
0009-0003-9293-8767 |
|---|---|
| Phone | +46 (0)708397906 |
| frida.berg@gu.se |
Scientific
School of Health and Welfare
Dalarna University
Falun
791 88
Sweden
| ORCID ID |
0000-0002-6910-7047 |
|---|---|
| Phone | +46 (0)23-77 84 11 |
| ker@du.se |
Study information
| Study design | Longitudinal exploratory design using a process evaluation framework |
|---|---|
| Primary study design | Observational |
| Secondary study design | Longitudinal study |
| Study setting(s) | University/medical school/dental school |
| Study type | Other |
| Participant information sheet | Not available in web format, please use contact details to request a participant information sheet |
| Scientific title | Evaluating an internal quality assurance process for achieving national accreditation standards in midwifery education |
| Study objectives | It is hypothesized that implementing an internal quality assurance process will improve the quality of midwifery education programmes, producing competent and confident educators and midwives and thereby meeting national accreditation standards. |
| Ethics approval(s) |
Approved 30/05/2024, National Ethical Committee in Sweden (Etikprövningsmyndigheten) (Box 2110, Uppsala, 75002, Sweden; +46 (0)10-4750800; registrator@etikprovning.se), ref: D-no: 2024-02510-01-583296 |
| Health condition(s) or problem(s) studied | Evaluating internal quality assurance processes in midwifery education |
| Intervention | The intervention consists of an internal quality assurance process to be integrated into education institutions to enhance the quality of midwifery education. Through a recurrent self-assessment, the faculty assess their respective education programmes against national and international standards. The faculty within the midwifery education programmes internally analyse the achievements of the self-assessment, indicating which standards are met, partially met, and unmet and what changes need to be prioritized in the next cycle. Based on the yearly self-assessment findings, the faculty makes a recurrent activity plan. The learning from one assessment guides the plan that follows. |
| Intervention type | Behavioural |
| Primary outcome measure | 1. The internal quality assurance process at the selected educational institutions will be measured using six categories: i) Program management; ii) Faculty; iii) Students; iv) Midwifery program and curriculum; v) Resources; and vi) Quality improvements, at baseline (2024) and endline (2027). 2. Effectiveness in producing midwifery educators who are competent and confident in delivering the World Health Organization’s educator competencies, as well as competent and confident final-semester students at selected institutions, will be measured through self-assessment at baseline (1st year 2024) and endline (3rd year 2027). |
| Secondary outcome measures | Contextual factors influencing the internal quality assurance process to reach national accreditation standards for midwifery education will be measured at baseline (1st year 2024) |
| Overall study start date | 01/08/2023 |
| Completion date | 31/12/2028 |
Eligibility
| Participant type(s) | Employee, Learner/student |
|---|---|
| Age group | Adult |
| Lower age limit | 18 Years |
| Upper age limit | 64 Years |
| Sex | Both |
| Target number of participants | 1700 |
| Key inclusion criteria | Employed or student at one of the selected higher education institutions in Bangladesh 1. Management 2. Midwifery educator 3. Clinical mentor 4. Librarians 5. Responsible for the computer lab 6. Head of the skills lab 7. Final year midwifery students |
| Key exclusion criteria | 1. Not employed or a student at one of the selected institutions 2. Participants who do not want to participate |
| Date of first enrolment | 01/05/2024 |
| Date of final enrolment | 31/12/2026 |
Locations
Countries of recruitment
- Bangladesh
Study participating centre
Dhaka
1212
Bangladesh
Sponsor information
University/education
Sahlgrenska Academy, Institute of Health and Care Sciences
Arvid Wallgrens backe 1, Box 457
Gothenburg
40530
Sweden
| Phone | +46 (0)31 786 10 00 |
|---|---|
| vardvetenskap@fhs.gu.se | |
| Website | https://www.gu.se/ |
"ROR" |
https://ror.org/01tm6cn81 |
Funders
Funder type
Government
Government organisation / Local government
- Alternative name(s)
- Fondo de Población de las Naciones Unidas, Fonds des Nations Unies pour la population, صندوق الأمم المتحدة للسكان, United Nations Fund for Population Activities, UNFPA
- Location
- United States of America
Results and Publications
| Intention to publish date | 01/11/2025 |
|---|---|
| Individual participant data (IPD) Intention to share | Yes |
| IPD sharing plan summary | Stored in non-publicly available repository, Not expected to be made available |
| Publication and dissemination plan | Planned publication in a peer-reviewed journal |
| IPD sharing plan | The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are not expected to be made available due to the need to protect the faculty and individuals participating in the study. All results will be presented at the group level and will be anonymized. |
Editorial Notes
20/08/2024: Study's existence confirmed by the National Ethical Committee in Sweden (Etikprövningsmyndigheten).
