Scoping reviewSelected wider researchPublished full text reviewed

Fifty years of evidence on perinatal experience among refugee and asylum-seeking women in Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries: A scoping review

Ramadan et al. · 2023 · PLOS ONE

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0287617 ↗

Open the published paper ↗People, places & projects ↓

01 / Study designScoping review

02 / ContributionSynthesis and scientific context

03 / Interpretation

Interpret findings within the scope of the source evidence.

Read the limitations ↓

Summary

Maps refugee and asylum-seeking women’s maternity-care experiences and barriers across OECD host countries.

Published full text reviewed

The summary describes the published study and the sources listed below.

Scientific notes: 2026-11-12 · Research connections: 12 November 2026

Key findings

Eighteen of 28 articles examining antenatal-care timing/adequacy reported delayed or fewer visits. Recurrent themes included interpreting gaps, difficult navigation, disrespect, limited autonomy and social isolation. These are study counts, not pooled risks or percentages of women.

Study design & setting

Study design and methods

Population, setting or evidence base

82 studies across 19 OECD countries; included publications spanned 1977–2020. Of these, 61 addressed perinatal experience.

Methods

MEDLINE/Embase searches in March 2022 covered English-language studies from 1970–2021. Independent reviewers screened studies; descriptive mapping and thematic narrative synthesis replaced meta-analysis.

Limits to interpretation

Limitations

English-only coverage and the 2021 cutoff omit later evidence. Health-system differences were not explicitly accounted for. Heterogeneous findings do not establish intervention effectiveness; no review protocol was registered.

Research relevance

Highlights priorities for accessible, respectful maternity care; it provides related equity research, without a SEACO or CHEERS study setting.

People, places & projects