Continuity of midwifery care in war-related bereavement and partner trauma: Emotional labour, boundaries and supervision.

BACKGROUND: Pregnancy in contexts of war-related bereavement and partner trauma creates complex demands on midwives who may accompany women through prolonged grief, uncertainty and psychological distress. Although emotional labour and secondary traumatic stress in midwifery have been widely discussed, less is known about midwives providing continuity of care when trauma is ongoing rather than event-based. AIM: To examine how midwives' experiences of providing continuity of care in contexts of war-related bereavement and partner trauma were documented, interpreted, and professionally processed within a longitudinal supervisory-reflective framework. METHODS: This interpretive qualitative study used reflexive thematic analysis of a longitudinal supervisory journal written by the programme mentor and documenting supervisory reflections concerning the work of twelve midwives in a continuity-of-care programme developed during the Israel-Hamas War. FINDINGS: Three interrelated themes emerged: negotiating professional boundaries under conditions of emotional proximity; living with cumulative trauma while relying on supervisory containment; and constructing birth as a site of meaning, repair, hope and professional vulnerability. Continuity of care intensified relational proximity, extended emotional labour beyond discrete clinical events, and positioned supervision as a space where emotional burden, boundary dilemmas and professional uncertainty were discussed and ethically negotiated. CONCLUSION: Midwifery care in contexts of war-related bereavement and partner trauma involves prolonged, relationally embedded emotional labour. The findings highlight supervision as an interpretive professional space in which emotional burden, boundary dilemmas, and professional uncertainty can be articulated, examined, and negotiated within trauma-informed continuity care.