The Effectiveness of Group Counseling with Emphasis on Communication Skills on Midwifery Students’ Sense of Belonging in Clinical Settings

Abstract

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the effect of group counseling with emphasis on communication skills on midwifery students' sense of belonging in clinical settings. Methods: This interventional study with the pre-test -post-test control group design was conducted on 78 midwifery students of Kerman Medical University, who were selected using the census method. Of the total study population, sixty students with low level of mental health were screened using Goldberg's General Health Questionnaire and randomly included in an intervention and a control group. They filled out Belongingness Scale-Clinical Placement Experience (BES-CPE) as the pre-test. The intervention consisted of eight group counseling sessions (two 2-hour sessions per week) with emphasis on communication skills that were held in their faculty. The final sample included fifty-two students filling out the post-test instruments. Data were analyzed using SPSS 22. Results: There was a significant difference between the groups in terms of total score (P < 0.0001) as well as the self-esteem and self-efficacy subscales (P < 0.05). Conclusions: Sense of belonging in clinical settings is required for midwifery students so that they can improve their communicaton skills in such settings. Therefore, it is recommended to include programs in midwifery curricula in order to improve students' sense of belonging with enhancing their communication skills.

Determining the Professional Belongings of Midwifery Department Students and Their Opinions about the Present and Future of Midwifery Profession

“…Belongingness is the perception of an individual considering themselves as part of a particular environment and feeling connected to it . Professional belongingness, on the other hand, is the result of an individual's adoption of their profession, taking ownership of it, making efforts for its development, and performing the profession with enthusiasm (Ay, Keçe, İnci, Alkan, & Acar, 2018;Saadatbakht, Ahmadi, Mehdizadeh Zare Ansar, Azizzade Forouzi, Jahani, 2019). The sense of professional belongingness not only affects a person's professional success and satisfaction but also impacts their ability to perform adequately in their profession.…”

“…The acceptance and enthusiastic performance of the midwifery profession by midwives who fulfill their duties, their efforts to uphold and sustain the requirements of the profession while being aware of them, are indicators of their belongingness to the midwifery profession. Due to reasons such as the challenging working conditions and demanding nature of the midwifery profession, it is necessary for midwives to have high levels of professional belongingness (Saadatbakht et al, 2019;Evans et al, 2020).…”

“…Establishing professional belongingness during the student period will contribute to both professional and personal development, enabling midwifery students to provide quality service to society and women (Gümüşdaş et al, 2021;Evans et al, 2020) Alongside professional education, students begin to identify their expectations and thoughts about their profession. Professional expectations and thoughts can be influenced by various factors, such as willingly choosing the profession and adopting it, as well as the attitudes of professionals and the status of the profession in society (Atasoy & Ermin, 2016;Saadatbakht et al, 2019). Therefore, it is essential to determine how students perceive their profession, their perspectives on the profession, and their thoughts about its current and future state, especially in the early stages of entering the profession (Yücel et al, 2018;Altıparmak et al, 2021).…”