South Asian women's experiences of maternity care in the United Kingdom: A systematic review and thematic synthesis

Abstract

Purpose

Little is known about South Asian (SA) women's experiences of maternity care in the United Kingdom (UK). Previous research has often grouped ethnic minority women as a homogenous group. Therefore, differences between ethnicities may not be sufficiently explored. Many SA women underutilize antenatal support offered by maternity services and are at an increased risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes, compared with White women. Therefore, this systematic review aimed to explore SA women and birthing people's experiences of maternity care in the UK.

Methods

Three databases were searched for published peer-reviewed qualitative studies. The Critical Appraisal Skills Programme checklist for qualitative research was used to appraise the quality of included articles. Thomas and Harden's (BMC Medical Research Methodology, 2008, 8, 45) approach for thematic synthesis informed qualitative synthesis.

Results

Twelve articles met the inclusion criteria. Four themes were developed ‘(in)ability to express maternity needs’, ‘uncompassionate relationships with maternity healthcare professionals’, ‘integrating maternity care with cultural identity’, and ‘family being a part of maternity care’.

Conclusions

This was an original review using a comprehensive search strategy with transparent reporting. Most SA women perceived difficulties with expressing maternity needs. Relational experiences with maternity care professionals were perceived as uncompassionate, discriminatory, and with varied sensitivity to their cultural identity. SA women viewed their maternity care to incorporate family. Research implications included an urgent need to increase the quality of ethical qualitative research focused on SA women/birthing people. Clinical implications included maternity healthcare professionals and systems to improve the relational experience with SA women/birthing people.