ReviewBMC pregnancy and childbirth2023
Strengthening quality in sexual, reproductive, maternal, and newborn health systems in low- and middle-income countries through midwives and facility mentoring: an integrative review.
Review in BMC pregnancy and childbirth, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed.
- Experiences of Health Professionals Regarding Existing Guidelines Used to Manage Obstetric Emergencies in a Rural Area of South Africa: A Qualitative Explorative Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2026Article
- Exploring the Role of Midwives in Promoting Childbearing from the Perspective of Couples: A Qualitative Content Analysis.International journal of community based nursing and midwifery · 2026Article
- The Reported Evidence of Nursing and Midwifery Mentorship Programmes Internationally: A Scoping Meta-Review Providing a Comprehensive Overview of Mentorship Programmes.Journal of advanced nursing · 2026Article
- Strengthening midwifery and nursing interventions to reduce child mortality in South Asia: a policy and practice review.Journal of global health · 2025Review
- 'This is like tradition, lie on your back, hold your leg, and push': understanding midwives' perspectives on their choice of labour positions in a Ugandan hospital.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2025Article
- Maximising contributions of midwives in Africa towards achieving MNH targets: Lessons learned.African journal of primary health care & family medicine · 2025Article
- Learning from the experiences of midwifery students and recent graduates in humanitarian and conflict-affected settings: A prospective cohort study protocol.Women's health (London, England)Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThere is an urgent global call for health systems to strengthen access to quality sexual, reproductive, maternal, newborn and adolescent health, particularly for the most vulnerable. Professional midwives with enabling environments are identified as an important solution. However, a multitude of barriers prevent midwives from fully realizing their potential. Effective interventions to address known barriers and enable midwives and quality sexual, reproductive, maternal, newborn and adolescent health are less well known. This review intends to evaluate the literature on (1) introducing midwives in low- and middle-income countries, and (2) on mentoring as a facilitator to enable midwives and those in midwifery roles to improve sexual, reproductive, maternal, newborn and adolescent health service quality within health systems.
methodsAn integrative systematic literature review was conducted, guided by the Population, Intervention, Comparison, Outcome framework. Articles were reviewed for quality and relevance using the Gough weight-of-evidence framework and themes were identified. A master table categorized articles by Gough score, methodology, country of focus, topic areas, themes, classification of midwives, and mentorship model. The World Health Organization health systems building block framework was applied for data extraction and analysis.
resultsFifty-three articles were included: 13 were rated as high, 36 as medium, and four as low according to the Gough criteria. Studies that focused on midwives primarily highlighted human resources, governance, and service delivery while those focused on mentoring were more likely to highlight quality services, lifesaving commodities, and health information systems. Midwives whose pre-service education met global standards were found to have more efficacy. The most effective mentoring packages were comprehensive, integrated into existing systems, and involved managers.
conclusionsEffectively changing sexual, reproductive, maternal, newborn and adolescent health systems is complex. Globally standard midwives and a comprehensive mentoring package show effectiveness in improving service quality and utilization.
trial registrationThe protocol is registered in PROSPERO (CRD42022367657).
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.