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Objective: To explore the perspectives of student midwives, midwifery educationalists and midwifery clinicians from and connected to one University in order to identify strategies to enhance awareness of sexual and gender diversity in a pre- registration midwifery curriculum., Design: A mixed method study including an online survey and a series of focus groups Setting: One University in London Participants: 47 survey respondents and 16 focus group participants Findings: Two Inductive themes were developed from the data analysis: Practising Open Mindedness and Cultivating Openness and four sub themes; Making Assumptions, Developing self- awareness, Challenge and Discomfort and Safe spaces. Participants proposed learning strategies that they thought would facilitate cultivating openness and open mindedness., Competing Interests: Declarations of Competing Interest Two members of the research team had pastoral responsibilities for the student cohort from which participants were drawn. Recruitment occurred as a result of poster advertising and emails, describing the study and sent to all staff and students, via a Faculty administrative hub., (Copyright © 2021. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Objective: Midwifery student mental wellbeing is an important consideration for the sustainability of the profession, however it has seldom been the subject of empirical research. Previous studies of the lived experience of midwifery students have focused on the impact of transition experiences and student satisfaction, rather than specifically on mental health and students' views on support for their mental wellbeing., Design: A qualitative descriptive study using semi-structured interviews., Setting: A midwifery undergraduate programme in one university in the South of England., Participants: 20 BSc midwifery students., Findings: Two inductive themes were developed from our analysis. The theme of 'the rollercoaster' encapsulated students' experience over the length of the course, characterised by multiple culture shocks of being in different worlds, from one clinical placement to the next, from university to clinical placement. This experience was emotionally taxing. The theme of 'being noticed, feeling connected' encapsulated midwifery students' views on what could help them enjoy their training. They wanted to be seen as individuals by at least one educator, they wanted opportunities to connect with their peers and they wanted the support available to them to be consistent., Conclusions: Listening to students' insights into the lived experience of being a midwifery student can enable midwifery educators to improve the way courses are designed and support structures are put in place. The importance of having consistent contact with peers and educators cannot be underestimated., Implications for Practice: The emotional demands of midwifery training must be acknowledged. Educators should identify ways in which they can provide students with consistent individualised support and regular opportunities to meet with their peers., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest Some members of the research team had pastoral responsibilities for the student cohort from which participants were drawn. They had no role in recruitment, direct contact with research participants and did not see unanonymised versions of the study transcripts., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background and Objective: the limited availability of high quality evidence related to second stage management of the perineum (SSMP) combined with a perceived shift in UK practice towards a 'hands off' the perineum/fetal head approach are likely to have impacted significantly on student midwives' understanding of SSMP. This paper presents a classroom based educational session using low fidelity simulation, which was designed in response to student feedback and aimed to improve confidence in this skill., Design: reflective teaching practice, based on evaluation of SSMP teaching., Setting: an undergraduate midwifery programme based at an inner city university in London UK., Participants: student midwives., Findings: the education session based on Kolb's experiential approach to learning appeared to address gaps in the previous teaching which was identified by students. The Classroom setting offered students a supportive setting in which to experiment with different SSMP approaches with a view to personalising care and without compromising safety., Conclusions and Implications for Practice: although further longitudnal research is needed, the experiential model appears to offer a low resource approach to teaching SSMP and has potential application in other countries., (Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)