Abstract
BackgroundUnderstanding immigrant women’s experiences of maternity care is critical if receiving country care systems are to respond appropriately to increasing global migration. This systematic review aimed to compare what we know about immigrant and non-immigrant women’s experiences of maternity care.MethodsMedline, CINAHL, Health Star, Embase and PsychInfo were searched for the period 1989–2012. First, we retrieved population-based studies of women’s experiences of maternity care (n = 12). For countries with identified population studies, studies focused specifically on immigrant women’s experiences of care were also retrieved (n = 22). For all included studies, we extracted available data on experiences of care and undertook a descriptive comparison.ResultsWhat immigrant and non-immigrant women want from maternity care proved similar: safe, high quality, attentive and individualised care, with adequate information and support. Immigrant women were less positive about their care than non-immigrant women. Communication problems and lack of familiarity with care systems impacted negatively on immigrant women’s experiences, as did perceptions of discrimination and care which was not kind or respectful.ConclusionFew differences were found in what immigrant and non-immigrant women want from maternity care. The challenge for health systems is to address the barriers immigrant women face by improving communication, increasing women’s understanding of care provision and reducing discrimination.
Highlights
Understanding immigrant women’s experiences of maternity care is critical if receiving country care systems are to respond appropriately to increasing global migration
The countries and the included studies Australia Three population-based studies from the state of Victoria (1989, 1994, 2000) [4,5,6,7,8,9,10] and seven studies of immigrant women (including Vietnamese, Chinese, Cambodian, Records identified through database searching, after duplicates removed (n = 3344)
Representativeness could not be assessed (n = 21 of immigrant reports) Focus on childbirth beliefs or cultural practices, not on views of care Unable to determine if the women were first generation immigrants
Summary
Understanding immigrant women’s experiences of maternity care is critical if receiving country care systems are to respond appropriately to increasing global migration. Increasing global migration has implications both for health care provision in receiving countries and for the health care experiences of immigrant populations. This is nowhere more apparent than in the experience of women giving birth post-migration. Some population-based studies of women’s experiences of maternity care conducted in a on data in general population studies and in specific immigrant studies in the same countries, would seem to offer the best opportunity for drawing together and comparing what is known about immigrant and nonimmigrant experiences, and what women want – and get – from their maternity care. We aimed to identify and review all published population-based studies of women’s experiences of maternity care to determine what they say about what women want from care, including any data, if available, about immigrant women. For the purposes of this review, we define immigrant women as those women not themselves born in the country in which they are giving birth
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