Midwifery Sciences

All members of the group conduct research in the field of reproductive health, infant health and violence against women and small children.

Most of the members are midwives, but also public health nurses, obstetricians, general nurse, and physiotherapist.

Interdisciplinary cooperation is emphasised, and all our projects involve external partners. We have close research collaboration with several hospitals in the region.

We engage in studies in Norway, the Nordic countries, UK, Palestine, Ghana, and Nepal.

We have established and developed a robust environment within the field of reproductive health. The research group Midwifery Science at OsloMet is the leading environment in Norway within midwifery research.

• MIDRED: Midwifery Education and Research Development in Palestine and Ghana (uni.oslomet.no)
• SOFUS: Parental stress after detection of foetal structural abnormalities in ultrasound examination
• Developing algorithms for individualized labor progression guidening
• Theories and models for midwifery in a Nordic context
• Childbirth and medicalization in a Nordic context
• Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights in midwifery education – evaluating an international online blended learning collaboration
• Room for improvement: a critical assessment of Norwegian, Swedish and Danish guidelines for treatment of mental illness in children and adolescents
• Implementing a teaching module combining quality improvement, evidence-based practice, and knowledge translation at an Interdisciplinary master’s program
• Midwife-led continuity of care models in low- and middle-income countries

PhD projects

• What matters to women – experiences and views on maternity care, Carina Skullerud Vedeler
• LINO: Labour Induction Inpatient and Outpatient, Kjersti Engen Marsdal
• More evidence-based practice: Fetal monitoring in low risk deliveries (LISTEN), Kristin Jerve Aanstad
• Public health nurses detecting and preventing violence against children, Astrid Midtsund
• Exploring Quality of Maternal and Newborn Care in Palestine (part of MIDRED), Khadeeja Zaza
• Intermittent auscultation as fetal monitoring during childbirth (part of LISTEN), Christina Hernandez Engelhart
• Oxytocin during labour I is it used too often? Lise Gaudenack
• PROGRESS: Development of a new labour monitoring approach using cervical dilation measurements, Johanne Egenberg Huurnink
• Long-term postpartum anal incontinence – prevalence, risk factors and effect of conservative management, Julia Trevor
• User experiences from freestanding midwifery-led units (FMUs), Heidi Strand Nørstebø

Collaboration projects

Collaboration projects rooted in other institutions:

• MiNS – The Mother in Norway Study, Work Research Institute (AFI), OsloMet
• LAPS: Childbirth Experience in The Labour Progression Study, University of Stavanger
• The Norwegian WHO Labour Care Guide Trial, Østfold Hospital Trust
• B3-study: Babies Born Better in Europe, University of Central Lancashire, UK
• Buscopan to Prevent Prolonged Labour - RCT, Oslo University Hospital
• Home Based Postpartum Care, Akershus University Hospital
• The HOME Study: Home Monitoring of High-Risk Pregnancies, Oslo University Hospital
• ADVANCED 2:Addressing Domestic Violence in Antenatal Care Environments, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Dhulikhel Hospital-Kathmandu University School of Medical Sciences
• Use of Health Care Services in a Multiethnic Society – the Impact of Mental Health and Potential Traumatic Events. The SAMINOR 2 Questionnaire Survey, UiT The Arctic University of Norway
• INTACT, Norwegian University of Science and Technology
• Birth Experiences and Breastfeeding in Women with PCOS, Norwegian University of Science and Technology
• Proactive vs. Standard Support of Labour, Norwegian University of Science and Technology
• Validation of the Quality Maternal and Newborn Care Framework index (QMNCFi), University of Dundee
• How to Protect Normal Birth, NORDPLUS
• Long-Term Postpartum Anal Incontinence – Prevalence, Risk Factors and Effect of Conservative Management, Østfold Hospital Trust
• Childbirth Experience and Breastfeeding in Women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome – a Prospective Clinical Study, Norwegian University of Science and Technology

National

• Oslo University Hospital (OUS)
• Akershus University Hospital (AHUS)
• Østfold Hospital
• Innlandet Hospital
• Stavanger University Hospital (SUS)
• Drammen Hospital
• University of Oslo (UiO)
• Western Norway University of Applied Sciences (HVL)
• UiT The Arctic University of Norway
• University of Bergen (UiB)
• University of Stavanger (UiS)
• Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)
• University of South-Eastern Norway (USN)
• The Norwegian Institute of Public Health (FHI)
• The Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD)
• Fredrikstad municipality
• Sarpsborg municipality

International

• University of Gothenburg, Sweden
• University of Iceland, Reykjavik
• University of Technology Sydney, Australia
• Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand
• University of Central Lancashire (UCLAN), Preston, UK
• Manchester Metropolitan University, UK
• Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, UK
• University of Dundee, UK
• University College of Northern Denmark (UCN)
• University of Aarhus, Denmark
• University of Southern Denmark
• Citizen, Democracy and Accountability, Bratislava, Slovakia
• BirZeit University, Ramallah, Palestine
• University of Ghana, Accra
• Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, China
• La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia
• Kathmandu University School of Medical Sciences, Nepal

NorNAM is a network of researching midwives from five Nordic countries focusing on midwifery models and theories. The network is connected to the Midwifery Sciences research group and was founded in 2017 by eight academic midwives from Denmark, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden. Finland joined later.

Midwives are the main care giver, assist all spontaneous births and are present at all operative deliveries to provide care for the mother and baby. Midwives and midwifery have been a respected and integrated part of the health care systems in the Nordic countries for the last 300 years.

Still, Nordic midwifery is not so visible internationally. Anglo-Saxon researchers are dominating the field of international midwifery research. Guidelines and models of care aimed to be used in all countries are developed.

International research literature and textbooks in English are important part of the curricula in midwifery educations in the Nordic countries as well as in other countries. The internationalisation is welcomed and international research, models of care and guidelines can improve quality and outcomes of care in the Nordic countries as well as other countries.

For smaller countries, there is a danger of introducing and implementing thoughts, models, and guidelines without taking the local context in consideration.

Since professional roles and the organisation of maternity care differ across countries, it is therefore necessary to identify specific regional or national challenges and thus develop theories and models for maternal care, and for midwifery practice.

Professional roles and organization of maternity care differ across countries. NorNAM focus on midwifery research, education, and practice in the context of the Nordic countries.

Aims and work

NorNAM's aims are to strengthen the profession of midwives and the midwifery approach by focusing on theoretical perspectives in practice, education, and research, in the context of the Nordic countries.

NorNAM has developed the PhD course «Theories and models for midwifery» (5 ECTS) which was held in Reykjavík in 2019, digitally in 2021 due to corona restrictions, and in Oslo in 2023.

67 students from eight different countries have attended the course by the end of 2023.

The course is aimed at PhD students and researchers within the field of midwifery, and it has received good student evaluations. The course is held bi-annually and will be in Oslo in 2025.

NorNAM has published a systematic review that identifies and provides an overview of theoretical models for midwifery care and has also published the book “Theories and perspectives for midwifery – a Nordic view”.

The book describes and discusses Nordic midwifery related to its own context as well as an international perspective.

NorNAM's partner institutions

• OsloMet
• Novia University of Applied Sciences, Finland
• University of Gothenburg, Sweden
• University of Iceland, Iceland
• University of Southern Denmark