Hopes of Reducing Maternal and Perinatal Mortality at the Core of PhD Thesis

BY: .

Towards Skilled Midwives: a Model to Ensure Clinical Leadership in the Labour Wards of District Hospitals in KwaZulu-Natal, was the title of a doctoral thesis by Dr Solange Zoe Mianda of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The thesis secured Mianda a PhD degree in Public Health from UKZN.

The study explored midwife conceptualisations of clinical leadership; identified enablers and barriers to clinical leadership, and proposed an intervention model to ensure the development of clinical leadership in the labour wards of district hospitals in KwaZulu-Natal with the goal of reducing maternal and perinatal mortality.

‘The proposed model of intervention is applicable to low and middle income countries, and can be used by midwives, nurses, medical doctors, allied health care providers, midwives in leadership roles, and district clinical specialist teams,’ said Mianda.

Supervised by Dr A Voce, the study - located in an interpretivist/constructivist paradigm - comprised the Corbin and Strauss approach to grounded theory. Data was collected through a synthesis of evidence obtained from structured literature reviews; in-depth interviews with eight advanced diploma midwifery members of the District Clinical Specialist Teams (DCSTs) in KwaZulu-Natal, conducted between April 2015 and January 2016 in a location of each respondent’s choice; and a confirmatory consensus building workshop held in March 2016 and attended by diverse stakeholders.

Evidence generated in the study was integrated to propose an intervention model to ensure the development of clinical leadership in the labour wards of district hospitals in South Africa.

Mianda is currently based at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) as a postdoctoral research fellow under the SARChI for Health systems governance, Professor Helen Schneider.

Mianda plans to grow as a health policy and systems researcher. ‘Being based in the School of Public Health at UWC and being a Collaborative of Health Policy and Systems Researchers (CHESAI) member gives me an opportunity to develop and contribute to the field of Health Policy and Systems Research (HPSR).’

Mianda said her interests include travelling, music, reading, learning new things and hiking in the bushveld.

‘The love of God and His presence in my life keeps me going. Knowing that He will never leave me nor forsake me, gives me the courage to face the world no matter what,’ she said.

Words: Nombuso Dlamini

Photograph: Abhi Indrarajan