Objective <p>The purpose of this study was to explore student’s experiences of redeveloped <i>“Introduction to Midwifery”</i> course and identify their professional identity and attitudes towards midwifery profession after completing the course.</p> Design <p>An interpretive phenomenological research method was adopted.</p> Participants <p>Data were collected in January 2022 from 12 first-year undergraduate midwifery students from a medical university in Hainan, China.</p> Method <p>A semi-structured interview was conducted. Colaizzi’s 7-step analysis was used for data analysis.</p> Findings <p>The cognitive and affective aspects of the course for first-year midwifery students can be summarized into four themes: initial impressions, professional emotional transformation, behavioural changes in learning and student suggestions.</p> Conclusion <p>The “<i>Introduction to Midwifery</i>” course cultivated first-year midwifery students’ professional identity and attitudes. Additionally, those activities of teaching and learning facilitated significant changes in students’ learning behaviours, demonstrating that a constructivist-based curriculum aligns with the current needs of midwifery students.</p> Implications for practice <p>This study showed that, on the basis of constructivist learning theory, the redevelopment of “<i>Introduction to Midwifery</i>” changed the students’ initial impressions of midwifery, showed great potential for cultivating students’ identity and attitudes towards midwifery, promoted changes in students’ learning behaviour, and provided new ideas for midwifery pedagogies.</p>