ArticleBMC pregnancy and childbirth2026
Exploring working conditions and job stability of midwives in Spain: results from a cross-sectional national survey.
Article in BMC pregnancy and childbirth, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundMidwives are essential to perinatal care in Spain's healthcare system, with roles expanding due to demographic changes to encompass technology integration, multidisciplinary collaboration, and pharmacotherapeutic management. Challenges persist, including suboptimal remuneration, competency misalignment, and employment precarity (92.7% temporary contracts in 2024), aggravating professional dissatisfaction, reduced job satisfaction, and well-being deficits. Influential factors include workload, contractual stability, and work-life balance, emphasizing the imperative for empirical analysis of labour conditions. This study describes midwives' perceptions of Spanish work environments and assesses contract-type variations.
methodsWe conducted a cross-sectional, quantitative survey of registered midwives in Spain using a self-administered, 23-item, web questionnaire (five domains) on EUSurvey to assess working conditions, capturing demographics, job characteristics, training/competence, and entitlements, and evaluating differences in professional perceptions by contract type. Bivariate analyses and multivariable logistic regression models (adjusted for age group and years of professional experience) were performed to evaluate differences in professional perceptions by contract type.
resultsOf the 2,499 responses, 2,310 met the requirements (27.8% of practicing midwives in Spain). The majority worked in public hospitals (66.1%); 43.4% had permanent contracts, a figure that increased with age and experience. Temporary shiftcts, more common in the private sector, were associated with lower salaries and less salary satisfaction (mean scores 4.0-4.1 vs. 4.6 on a 10-point scale; p < 0.001) and greater exposure unfavourable working conditions due to staff shortages (requests for off-hours shifts: 90.2%, denied leave: 55.4%, approved leave cancelled: 22.8%; p < 0.001). Role intrusion was frequent (77.1%). Despite widespread participation in continuous training, only 15.8% felt fully competent in all core competencies.
conclusionsEmployment temporariness and staffing shortages are associated with poorer working conditions, greater role intrusion, and low pay satisfaction among midwives. Despite access to training, key competencies remain under-implemented, highlighting the need for greater job stability, adequate staffing, and equitable professional development.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.