A Systematic Review of Perinatal Social Support Interventions for Asylum-seeking and Refugee Women Residing in Europe.

Marie-Clare Balaam,Melanie Haith-Cooper,Carol Kingdon

doi:10.1007/s10903-021-01242-3

Marie-Clare Balaam, Melanie Haith-Cooper + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-021-01242-3

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Abstract

Asylum-seeking and refugee women currently residing in Europe face unique challenges in the perinatal period. A range of social support interventions have been developed to address these challenges. However, little is known about which women value and why. A critical interpretive synthesis was undertaken using peer reviewed and grey literature to explore the nature, context and impact of these perinatal social support interventions on the wellbeing of asylum-seeking and refugee women. Four types of interventions were identified which had varying impacts on women’s experiences. The impacts of the interventions were synthesised into five themes: Alleviation of being alone, Safety and trust, Practical knowledge and learning, being cared for and emotional support, and increased confidence in and beyond the intervention. The interventions which were most valued by women were those using a community-based befriending/peer support approach as these provided the most holistic approach to addressing women’s needs.

Highlights

As part of wider global trends in international migration Europe has experienced an increased number of migrants moving into the region [1]
Asylum-seeking and refugee women within Europe face challenges in accessing optimal maternity care, due to a range of issues including cost, communication, lack of health literacy and limited culturally appropriate care [4,5,6,7]. These challenges, exacerbated by the loss of the familial and social support structures women have in their home countries, mean that many women experience a lack social support and as a result face a range of significant psychosocial challenges to their maternal wellbeing [3, 6]
This review explored existing literature on the provision, nature and impact of social support interventions on the wellbeing of asylum-seeking and refugee women in the perinatal period across Europe

Summary

Introduction

As part of wider global trends in international migration Europe has experienced an increased number of migrants moving into the region [1]. A combination of the increased number of refugee and asylum-seeking women of childbearing age within Europe [4, 8] and high fertility rates amongst migrant and refugee women [4, 9] has meant that European healthcare systems are struggling to provide appropriate and accessible maternity care for these women [4, 10, 11] These challenges of provision, access to care and the impact of limited social support mean that asylum-seeking and refugee women experience poorer physical and mental wellbeing and poorer maternal and neonatal outcomes than other migrant women and non-migrant women [4, 6, 12]

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