Self-care interventions for preconception, antenatal, intrapartum and postpartum care: a scoping review

ObjectiveTo identify current and emerging self-care interventions to improve maternity healthcare.DesignScoping review.Data sourcesMEDLINE, Embase, EmCare, PsycINFO, Cochrane CENTRAL/CDSR, CINAHL Plus (last searched on 17 October 2021).Eligibility criteriaEvidence syntheses, interventional or observational studies describing any tool, resource or strategy to facilitate self-care in women preparing to get pregnant, currently pregnant, giving birth or post partum.Data extraction/synthesisScreening and data collection were conducted independently by two reviewers. Self-care interventions were identified based on predefined criteria and inductively organised into 11 categories. Characteristics of study design, interventions, participants and outcomes were recorded.ResultsWe identified eligible 580 studies. Many included studies evaluated interventions in high-income countries (45%) and during antenatal care (76%). Self-care categories featuring highest numbers of studies were diet and nutrition (26% of all studies), physical activity (24%), psychosocial strategies (18%) and other lifestyle adjustments (17%). Few studies featured self-care interventions for sexual health and postpartum family planning (2%), self-management of medication (3%) and self-testing/sampling (3%). Several venues to introduce self-care were described: health facilities (44%), community venues (14%), digital platforms (18%), partner/peer support (7%) or over-the-counter products (13%). Involvement of health and community workers were described in 38% and 8% of studies, who supported self-care interventions by providing therapeutics for home use, training or counselling. The most common categories of outcomes evaluated were neonatal outcomes (eg, birth weight) (31%), maternal mental health (26%) and labour outcomes (eg, duration of labour) (22%).ConclusionSelf-care interventions in maternal care are diverse in their applications, implementation characteristics and intended outcomes. Many self-care interventions were implemented with support from the health system at initial stages of use and uptake. Some promising self-care interventions require further primary research, though several are matured and up-to-date evidence syntheses are needed. Research on self-care in the preconception period is lacking.