ABSTRACT

Introduction Midwives are in a privileged and unique position when providing healthcare to childbearing women. Pregnancy and childbirth can be described as one of the most significant profound experiences in a woman’s life cycle, but unfortunately for some it is shadowed by negativity and memories of trauma. Maternity care provision can present many hidden challenges that require flexible, sensitive and discerning qualities when supporting women throughout the childbirth continuum. Providing healthcare in a multicultural society with a migrant population and increasing numbers of asylum seekers and refugees has impacted on the nature of healthcare provision and challenged current practices.