The impact of culture on access to and utilisation of maternity care
amongst Muslim women: A qualitative systematic review.
Abstract
Background: Global human migration has highlighted the need to
provide culturally-appropriate maternity care, delivered in accordance
with the recipient’s beliefs and practices. Objectives: This
review aims to examine the impact of culture on access, utilisation, and
care delivery of care for Muslim women during pregnancy, and postpartum,
through the experiences of women, families, and maternity
care-providers. Search Strategy: Six electronic databases were
searched for published qualitative and mixed-methods studies, in English
(01/January/2003-12/October/2023). Selection criteria: Studies
undertaken in high-income countries reporting the experiences of either
Muslim women accessing and utilising maternity services, or
care-providers delivering those services. Data collection and
analysis: Meta-ethnography was used to develop new concepts from
included studies. Main results: Of 23,428 articles identified,
24 met inclusion criteria. Four themes were identified: ‘
Religious influences’, ‘Sociocultural interactions’,
‘Healthcare as a culture’, and ‘Disrupted communication’.
Women’s negative experiences highlighted cultural insensitivity,
providers’ unconscious bias, inflexible care models (and the conflict
between expectations of services and those offered), and cultural
stereotyping in addition to indifferent and uniform care.
Care-providers’ experiences highlighted challenges with miscommunication
and Muslim women’s reliance on information (and sometimes,
misinformation) from their communities. Conclusions: Our
findings highlight the challenges involved in delivering
culturally-sensitive care to Muslim women; issues that extend beyond the
confines of culture-specific awareness of religion and ethnicity, to the
universal concept of personalisation. This is reflected in the theory, ‘
Recognise our differences, embrace our diversity, and care for me
as an individual’.