Experiences from leading parental education groups: Perceived difficulties and rewards as an indication of skill acquisition

Developing skills in a professional setting is linked to practical experience. The relationship between experience and acquisition of skills can be seen as a transition from novice to expert. In a nursing setting, this has been studied using the Dreyfus model of skill acquisition. The aim was to investigate how experience influences midwives’ and child healthcare nurses’ views of difficulties and rewards in working with parental education groups. The study has a cross-sectional design with a mixed methods approach. A total of 437 midwives and child healthcare nurses answered a web-based survey. First, a qualitative analysis was carried out, and then patterns of experience were analysed. The results showed that less experience as a leader corresponds to a greater focus on one’s own role and on personal benefits from working with parents, but not on the specific context of the group. With experience, leaders had a greater focus on the group itself and rewards of making it function well. Not being able to take the current group and the specific context into account when working as a leader reduces possibilities of achieving a well-functioning group and the goals of the parental education.