Students’ understanding of “Women-Centred Care Philosophy” in midwifery care through Continuity of Care (CoC) learning model: a quasi-experimental study

BACKGROUND: The philosophy of midwifery education is based on the ‘Women-centred care’ model, which provides holistic care to women. Continuity of care (CoC) is integral to the concept of holistic women-centred care and fundamental to midwifery practice. The objective of this study was to determine any differences in students’ understanding of midwifery care philosophy between students who underwent the CoC learning model and those who underwent the fragmented care learning model. METHOD: We used a quasi-experiment design. This study was conducted by all final year midwifery students at two schools of midwifery in Indonesia. Fifty four students from one school attended 6 months of clinical training using the CoC learning model. The control group was comprised of 52 students from the other school. These students used the conventional clinical training model (the fragmented care learning model). The independent T-test using SPSS was used to analyse the differences between the two groups of students in terms of understanding midwifey care philosophy in five aspects (personalized, holistic, partnership, collaborative, and evidence-based care). RESULTS: There were no significant differences between the groups before interventon. There were significant differences between the two groups after clinical training (p < 0.01). The mean post-clinical score of students using all five aspects of the CoC clinical learning model (15.96) was higher than that of the students in the control group (10.65). The CoC clinical learning model was shown to be a unique learning opportunity for students to understand the philosophy of midwifery. Being aligned with midwifery patients and developing effective relationships with them offered the students a unique view of midwifery practice. This also promoted an increased understanding of the philosophy of women-centred care. Zero maternal mortality rate was found in the experiment group. CONCLUSION: The results of this study suggest that clinical trainingwith a CoC learning model is more likely to increase students’ understanding of midwifery care philosophy. This in turn improves the quality ofclinical care, thereby enhancing overall health benefits for women. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12912-015-0072-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.