Midwifery students' well-being and perceived clinical competences at time of graduation: a Danish cross-sectional study

Well-being and being competent as a newly educated midwife are essential for ensuring safe and high-quality maternity care and for facilitating a confident transition into professional practice. Aim: To examine Danish midwifery students' well-being and self-reported clinical competences, perceived importance of the clinical competences, and the supportiveness of the clinical learning environment. Method: An online national questionnaire was distributed to Danish midwifery students at the three midwifery schools in Denmark with graduating midwifery students during their last months of education during the year 2025. Danish midwifery students graduate twice a year in January and in June. Self-reported information on their basic characteristics including well-being, and clinical competences, the supportiveness of the clinical learning environment was collected. Results: A total of 158/203 (78%) students participated in the survey. The students were mainly female (99.4%), born in Denmark (95.6%), and had no children (77.9%). Their mean age was 27.7, and 33.5% had risk of stress or depression according to the WHO-5 score.The students in general ranked the medical competences high and several of the basic midwifery competences low despite ranking the competences important. In general, low ranking of competence was followed by low ranking of supportiveness from the learning environment to achieve these competences. Conclusions: A substantial proportion of the students did not feel competent in basic midwifery skills such as assisting women in flexible birth position, caring for women with non-pharmacological pain-relief, and suturing a second-degree perineal tear. Objective learning goals can ensure achievement of diverse midwifery competences.