Health care providers' experiences caring for women living with obesity during pregnancy, birth, and postpartum: a qualitative systematic review protocol.

Abstract

This review will examine qualitative evidence about the experiences of health care providers who provide care to women living with obesity during the perinatal period to support evidence-informed approaches to care. As the number of women living with obesity increases, health care providers are interacting more with this population during pregnancy, birth, and postpartum. Qualitative studies about this topic show that health care providers often face challenges that prevent the provision of quality care. A qualitative systematic review of the experiences of health care providers caring for women living with obesity throughout the perinatal period is important to identify and address current gaps in the delivery of perinatal health care services. All studies with settings where licensed health care providers care for women living with obesity during pregnancy, birth, and postpartum will be considered. Studies published in English from 1995 onward will be included. The review will consider both mixed methods and qualitative studies such as phenomenology, grounded theory, and participatory action research. The following databases will be searched: CINAHL, Embase, PsycINFO, MEDLINE, and Sociological Abstracts (ProQuest). The ProQuest Digital Dissertations database will be searched for unpublished studies. Two independent reviewers will assess each study. Conflicts will be resolved through discussion. Data will be extracted by 2 trained independent reviewers. JBI resources for meta-aggregation will be used and data will be categorized and synthesized accordingly.