Background:

Woman-centred care (WCC) is a central philosophy of midwifery practice and a core element in midwifery curricula.  Research has shown that midwifery student assessment tools have been validated to assess competency to provide WCC however, the role of the woman in the clinical assessment of the student is less well understood.

 Aim:

To collate and report the evidence on the role of the woman in the clinical assessment of midwifery students’ competence to provide woman-centred care.

 Methods:

A scoping review was conducted using the framework of Arksey & O'Malley (2005).  Articles were sourced from MEDLINE, CINAHL, EMCARE and SCOPUS using concepts of woman-centred care, midwifery students and clinical assessment.

Findings:

Midwifery student assessment that included feedback from the woman at the point of clinical care was not evident from the seven included studies of the scoping review.  Women were found to play a central role, albeit a passive role, during midwifery student assessment when competency to provide WCC was assessed however, often the woman’s feedback was retrospective and not at the point of clinical care. 

Discussion:

A consistent finding from these studies was the lack of evidence of feedback from the woman during midwifery student assessment.  Including women’s feedback and expectations of maternity care would give women a ‘voice’ to articulate and validate their experiences.  It also supports the promotion of consumer advocacy and self-determination to preserve and protect WCC in clinical practice.  

Conclusion:

The lack of evidence of inclusion of the woman in the assessment of midwifery students questions the interpretation and application of the concepts of WCC that are embedded in standards for midwifery practice.  This review demonstrates that there is a major gap in our provision of woman-centred care that will be addressed by two studies that are currently underway.