Ready or Not? An Autoethnography of a Midwife’s Preparedness and Readiness Journey

Authors

Kristen Graham, National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, The Australian National University, AustraliaFollow

Abstract

This emotive autoethnography explores my experiences working as an Australian midwife in low- and middle-income countries, which led to a Doctor of Philosophy journey exploring primary care midwives' preparedness and readiness in rural and remote communities in this context. I use the midwifery tradition of storytelling to explore personal experiences of preparedness and readiness as a way towards researcher reflexivity, understanding and meaning. Emerging themes of preparation for practice, resource limitations, heartache, and emotional resilience offer insights to inform midwifery education, research, and practice.

Keywords

midwifery, rural primary health care, low- and middle-income countries, preparedness, readiness, autoethnography, storytelling

Author Bio(s)

With a career rooted in primary health care, midwifery education, and research, Kristen's current focus as a Ph.D. Candidate at The Australian National University is to strengthen the preparedness and readiness of midwives working in rural and remote resource-limited environments. Her research supports evidence-based policy, education and practice, to support and empower midwives and improve maternal and newborn health outcomes. Please direct correspondence to Kristen.Graham@anu.edu.au

Acknowledgements

I acknowledge that the stories in this article are told from my perspective only, and the views of those included may differ. The content and views expressed are solely my own and do not reflect the views or positions of any organisations I have worked with. I would like to acknowledge the individuals and organisations for their valuable part in my journey to improved awareness and understanding. I would also like to acknowledge and thank Dr. Samantha Colquhoun, Dr. Christine LaBond, Sr. Hlengiwe Mohale, and Dr. Wendy Foster for their support and review of the manuscript. Funding. I am supported by an Australian Government Research Training Program (RTP) scholarship. Declaration of Generative AI and AI-assisted technologies in the writing process. During the preparation of this work, I used Claude.ai to improve readability and language. After using this tool, I reviewed and edited the content as needed and take full responsibility for the content of the publication.

Publication Date

9-30-2025

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

DOI

10.46743/2160-3715/2025.7883

Recommended APA Citation

Graham, K. (2025). Ready or not? An autoethnography of a midwife’s preparedness and peadiness journey. The Qualitative Report, 30(9), 4345-4355. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2025.7883

ORCID ID

0000-0002-7214-4383