findings of Davis (2010), who in her study of registered nurses learning to become non-medical prescribers in the UK, identified the importance of the role of the mentor in assisting the student to apply theoretical knowledge of bioscience to practice in a range of settings to help to build the links between theory and practice. The same importance is given by Corlett et al. (2003) to the role of the preceptor in the translation of theory to practice in first year undergraduate nursing students in Scotland. The findings from this study therefore support those of others (Corlett et al,, 2003; Davis, 2010; Eraut, 2004). The current study also identified that many mentors do not appear to be confident in this aspect of their role in regard to contraception and sexual health, so that sexual health education was not reinforced in the practice setting for midwifery students. It was reported that the mentors themselves did not receive any professional development for their role in sexual health education, thus they were unable to reinforce or develop learning about sexual health education in the practice setting. This finding merits further exploration. Participants who had attended placements in family planning clinics or sexual health clinics or similar settings identified these placements as being very useful in reinforcing and extending their knowledge. This appeared to occur through an application of knowledge to practice by the mentors and by observing how information was communicated to clients. Mentors in these settings had specific knowledge, which they used in practice regularly, and they were confident in the use WALKER & DAVIS: LEARNING AT WORK AND UNIVERSITY: MIDWIFERY STUDENTS AND SEXUAL HEALTH ADVICE 75 of that knowledge. Vedam et al. (2007) and Roberts and Johnson (2009) make recommendations for change to practice placements to provide opportunity for more autonomous practice. While adjusting practice placements does present logistical difficulties for the placement of midwifery students, the advantages indicate that providing specific placements to support specific theoretical learning is worthwhile for the education of the midwifery workforce. Conclusion We set out to find out how confident midwifery students were in giving contraceptive and sexual health advice, and to find out their views on factors which would increase their confidence. We specifically sought their views on the preregistration curriculum and its value in supporting them to give CaSH advice. This study found that student midwives lacked confidence in giving advice about contraception and sexual health to women in their care, despite feeling that this was part of their professional role. Increased understanding of sexual health, provided through a curriculum which builds sexual health knowledge sequentially and through facilitated work based scenarios, supplemented by placement mentors who apply learning to practice in a variety of contexts, were seen by midwifery students to be necessary to support their practice and their development into midwives who were confident in their CaSH knowledge on registration. Changes to the education of midwifery students have the potential to impact positively on the way in which midwives deliver sexual health education to women. Practice mentors play a crucial role in developing confidence in this skill. Student midwives are essential stakeholders in their learning and in the professional practice of midwifery as they prepare to practice as qualified registered practitioners. If the stakeholder recommendations are to be acknowledged, then the delivery of the curriculum requires a model in which theoretical knowledge is reinforced practically, with role play, practice based scenarios and mentor observation and emulation as staging points from theory to practice. This aligns with the principles of reflective learning and the facilitated model of teaching (Quinn and Hughes, 2007). Limitations of the study This funded study aimed to explore on a local basis, within one university, whether the existing curriculum for teaching and learning of sexual health matters by student midwives was effective in meeting their needs. The study is small due to limited funding and the short timescale over which it was undertaken (Robson, 2000). However, the number of participants was relatively large for a small scale study and participation rates were high. We have aimed to provide sufficient detail of the study so that other researchers can consider whether the findings are applicable to their own settings. Acknowledgements A small internal grant was provided to support this study. WALKER & DAVIS: LEARNING AT WORK AND UNIVERSITY: MIDWIFERY STUDENTS AND SEXUAL HEALTH ADVICE 76 References: Barry, M., Noonan, M., Bradshaw, C., and Murphy-Tighe, S. (2012) An exploration of student midwives’ experience of the Objective Structured Clinical Examination assessment process, Nurse Education Today, 32(6), 690-694. Benner, P. (1984) From Novice to Expert. Menlo Park: Ca: Addison-Wesley. British Educational Research Association. (2011) Ethical guidelines for educational research. BERA. London. Corlett, J. (2000) The perceptions of nurse teachers, ABSTRACT IZA DP No. 13134 APRIL 2020 Access to The Emergency Contraceptive Pill Improves Women’s Health: Evidence from Chile*