Black, Asian and minority ethnic women's experiences of maternity services in the UK: A qualitative evidence synthesis.
Jennifer MacLellan, Sarah Collins, Margaret Myatt and 3 others
PMID 35332568WHAT IT FOUND
Black, Asian and minority ethnic women in UK maternity services described task-focused care, poor communication and mistreatment, including denied pain relief and unconsented procedures.
Continuity and respectful care were described as positive but exceptional.
Key findings
01Women described maternity care as task-focused and impersonal, with rushed interactions and little continuity, leaving them feeling processed rather than cared for.
02Communication failures included inadequate information, consent concerns, and rare use of trained interpreters, which made women rely on family and avoid disclosure.
03Women reported mistreatment, including discrimination, denied pain relief despite asking, privacy breaches, and fear of speaking up; respectful continuity care was described as positive but exceptional.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
This is a synthesis of qualitative experiences, not a test of maternity interventions, so it cannot show which changes improve maternal or neonatal outcomes. Evidence synthesis is limited by the original research questions, methods and reporting of the included studies. The included papers varied in quality and reporting, and some did not consider power in the researcher-participant relationship. Searches were English-language from 2000, and asylum seekers and women without recourse to public funds were excluded, so the findings may not represent all minority women. Some findings came from lower-quality papers, and one cultural or religious finding was reported with low confidence because it came from a single paper with seven women and poor method reporting. The reviewed papers were before the Better Births and continuity of midwifery carer policy changes, so current services may differ.
Declared interests
The authors declared no financial or personal interests. The work was funded by the Burdett Trust for Nursing.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as proof that continuity of care or any other model causes better outcomes. It reports women's described experiences from qualitative studies, not measured effects, and positive continuity care was described as exceptional rather than tested.