“Being With Woman”: Is There a Cost for Midwives and Students Attending Traumatic Births?

Witnessing and/or providing care during a traumatic birth increases vulnerability to secondary traumatic stress, with potential effects on mental health of and attrition among the midwifery workforce. With the global shortage of the midwifery workforce, retention and peak functioning are critical to the well-being of childbearing women and their infants. PubMed, Scopus, CINAHL, and PsycINFO databases were searched to identify studies that examined secondary traumatic stress in both midwives and midwifery students. Fifteen studies were located from eight different countries. Four of these studies examined secondary traumatic stress in midwifery students and 11 in practicing midwives. This article discusses the limited research on secondary traumatic stress among midwives and students who have attended or witnessed traumatic births. The vulnerability and potential workforce attrition of midwives and students experiencing secondary traumatic stress are highlighted. The development of a comprehensive body of literature is needed on prevalence, impact, clinical implications, and healing strategies addressing this workforce issue.

Women Workforce Attrition Dynamics in Indian IT/ ITES sector

The objective of the study is to identify various factors responsible for women's workforce attrition in Indian IT/ITES sector. Thematic analysis was used to generate the factors affecting women's workforce attrition. For the purpose of the study, semi-structured in depth interviews were conducted with some of the women employees of different IT companies. Interviews can be broadly classified into four sections. The first section dealt with personal profiles; second part contained a discussion on the benefits provided by organizations; third part elaborates on factors responsible for women's workforce attrition; and the last part dealt with suggestions on reducing attrition rate among women's workforce in India IT/ITES industry. Thematic analysis of the interview scripts provided two broad themes, namely intrinsic factors and extrinsic factors. Intrinsic factors consist of work life balance and motherhood whereas extrinsic factors include work pressure, long working hour, faulty appraisal practices, forceful transfers, and less cooperative colleagues. The will help the IT/ITES companies to understand the factors responsible for high attrition rate among women workforce. It helps in understanding the psyche of women workforce, which in turn can help the managers to build and retain their talent pool. The study also provides a holistic view to human resource strategies and policies that accommodate the work life need of the diverse women workforce in the current business environment.