Migrant women’s experiences of being pregnant in Europe
Citation: Fair F, Raben L, Watson H, et al. Migrant women’s experiences of pregnancy, childbirth and maternity care in European countries: A systematic review. PLOS ONE. 2020;15(2):e0228378.
Language: Abstract and full text available in EN.
Free to view: Yes.
Funding sources: Consumers, Health, Agriculture and Food Executive Agency of the European Commission.
What is this? Migrant women are at risk of negative pregnancy outcomes. This is influenced by factors relating to their origin and destination country and their migration journey.
In this systematic review, the authors searched for qualitative and mixed-methods studies of migrant women’s experiences of pregnancy, childbirth and maternity care in a destination country in Europe. They did not restrict their searches by language of publication and included studies published between 2007 and 2017. They included 47 studies, which were conducted in 14 European countries.
What was found: Four overarching themes were identified: navigating a new place and system; overcoming language barriers and different expectations/preferences for care which are informed by cultural background; discrimination, prejudice, stereotyping, and lack of cultural safety in the healthcare setting; and needs that go beyond pregnancy (e.g. low socioeconomic status, poor living conditions, trauma, lack of social support and domestic violence).
Implications: The authors of this review concluded that there is a need for culturally-competent and trauma-informed maternity care that recognizes the socioeconomic and psychosocial needs of migrant women.
Other considerations: The authors of the review discussed their findings in the context of place of residence, culture/language, gender/sex, socioeconomic status and social capital.
This summary was prepared by Lamis Abululoob, edited by Sydney Johnson and finalized by Mike Clarke.
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