African midwifery students’ self-assessed confidence in antenatal care: a multi-country study

Figures & data

Table 1. Study participants.

Age groups
18–25 years	638 (45.7)
26–35 years	590 (42.2)
36–60 years	167 (11.9)
Sex
Males	237 (16.9)
Females	1165 (83.1)
Type of midwifery program
Direct entry	376 (26.8)
Post-nursing	607 (43.3)
Integrated nurse-midwifery	420 (29.9)
Level of program
Bachelor	449 (32.0)
Diploma	954 (68.0)
Lenght of education
12 months	416 (29.7)
18 months	192 (13.7)
24 months	245 (17.5)
36 months	156 (11.1)
42 months	117 (8.3)
48 months	277 (19.7)

Table 2. Mean scores (SD) of the domains of antenatal care in relation to background variables.

	Identify fetal and maternal risk	Manage and document	Physical assessment
	factors and educate parents	emergent complications	and nutrition
Age groups
18–25 years (n = 638)	38.92 (5.03)	9.1 (2.44)	31.04 (4.08)
26–35 years (n = 590)	38.96 (4.79)	10.02 (1.88)	32.04 (3.85)
36–60 years (n = 167)	37.58 (5.46)	9.72 (2.19)	30.81 (4.46)
p-value	0.004	<0.001	0.002
Sex
Males (n = 237)	38.02 (5.29)	8.98 (2.37)	31.32 (4.25)
Females (n = 1165)	38.94 (4.92)	9.72 (2.13)	31.96 (4.01)
p-value	0.010	<0.001	0.011
Type of midwifery program
Direct entry	39.42 (4.80)	10.12 (2.00)	32.36 (3.95)
Post-nursing	38.78 (4.90)	10.06 (1.79)	31.91 (3.84)
Integrated nurse-midwifery	38.25 (5.25)	8.45 (2.44)	31.27 (4.39)
p-value	0.004	<0.001	0.001
Level of program
Bachelor level	38.35 (5.47)	9.64 (2.15)	31.33 (4.57)
Diploma level	38.99 (4.75)	9.57 (2.21)	32.07 (3.82)
p-value	0.026	0.568	0.001
Cronbach alpha	0.90	0.77	0.87

Table 3. Confidence in basic midwifery skills in relation to background.

	Identify fetal and maternal risk factors and educate parents			Manage and document emergent complications			Physical assessment and nutrition
	Higher	Lower		Higher	Lower		Higher	Lower
	confidence	confidence	Odds Ratio	confidence	confidence	Odds Ratio	confidence	confidence	Odds Ratio
	n (%)	n (%)	(95% CI)	n (%)	n (%)	(95% CI)	n (%)	n (%)	(95% CI)
Age groups
18–25 years (n = 638)	206 (46.9)	432 (45.4)	0.94 (0.74–1.20)	181 (43.9)	457 (46.5)	0.83 (0.63–1.07)	169 (48.0)	469 (45.1)	1.04 (0.80–1.34)
26–35 years (n = 590)	197 (44.5)	302 (41.2)	1.0 Ref.	189 (45.9)	400 (40.7)	1.0 Ref.	151 (42.9)	437 (42.9)	1.0 Ref.
36–60 years (n = 167)	40 (9.0)	127 (13.4)	0.62 (0.42–0.92)*	42 (10.2)	125 (12.7)	0.71 (0.48–1.05)	32 (9.1)	135 (13.0)	0.68 (0.48–1.05)
Sex
Males (n = 237)	64 (14.3)	173 (18.1)	1.0 Ref.	52 (12.6)	185 (18.7)	1.0 Ref.	49 (13.9)	188 (18.0)	1.0 Ref.
Females (n = 1165)	382 (85.7)	782 (81.9)	1.32 (0.96–1.80)	362 (87.4)	802 (81.3)	1.60 (1.15–2.23)**	304 (86.1)	859 (82.0)	1.35 (0.96–1.80)
Type of midwifery program
Direct entry (n = 376)	146 (32.7)	229 (24.3)	1.42 (1.08–1.86)*	154 (37.1)	221 (22.3)	1.61 (1.23–2.11)*	128 (36.2)	246 (23.5)	1.70 (1.25–2.26)***
Post-nursing (n = 607)	188 (44.5)	419 (43.6)	1.0 Ref.	183 (44.1)	424 (43.0)	1.0 Ref.	142 (40.1)	465 (44.4)	1.0 Ref.
Integrated nurse-midwifery (n = 420)	113 (25.3)	307 (32.1)	0.82 (0.62–1.05)	78 (18.8)	34 (34.7)	0.52 (0.39–0.71)***	84 (23.7)	336 (37.1)	0.81 (0.60–1.10)
Level of program
Diploma (n = 954)	318 (71.1)	636 (66.6)	1.23 (0.96–1.57)	291 (70.1)	663 (67.2)	1.14 (0.84–1.47)	268 (75.7)	695 (65.4)	1.54 (1.25–2.16)***
Bachelor (n = 449)	129 (28.9)	319 (33.4)	1.0 Ref.	124 (29.9)	324 (32.8)	1.0 Ref.	86 (24.3)	362 (34.6)	1.0 Ref.

* = p < 0.05, ** = p < 0.01, *** = p < 0.001.

Table 4. The most important factors for being very confident in antenatal care.

	Identify fetal and maternal risk factors and educate parents	Manage and document emergent complications	Physcial assessment and nutrition
Age >35 years	0.6 (0.4–0.9)*
Direct entry prog	1.4 (1.2–1.8)*	1.8 (1.3–2.3)***	1.70 (1.3–2.3)***
Integrated nurse-midwifery		0.4 (0.3–0.5)***
Diploma level		0.5 (0.4–0.8)***

* = p < 0.05, *** = p < 0.001