**6. Midwifery**

Midwifery students included in our study expressed their understanding that midwives were involved in the most intimate and vulnerable aspects of the lives of women and couples:

*Midwives "enter" the intimate sphere of human beings. (M4)*

*A midwife deals with the intimacy of a woman in her most frail moments. (M8)*

It is therefore of utmost importance to establish a safe and trustworthy relation:

### *Our work reaches to the very intimate sphere. It is up to us, how to approach the intimacy, in what way, showing respect. (M22)*

Midwives affect the lives of women, couples, babies, and families. Our respondents enumer‐ ated the facts that midwives give advice and teach about, for example, good relations in partnerships, sexual practices, the safety of intercourse, contraception, problems related to sexuality, family planning, healthy pregnancy, sexuality during pregnancy, labour, and parental roles. Knowing and understanding the type of partnership is a precondition of their work. Our respondents were aware that it was therefore important to respect the sexuality of women and couples they came into contact with in order to be able to provide relevant and high quality information and midwifery care.
