SynthesisArchives of women's mental health2024
Returning to work after maternity leave: a systematic literature review.
Synthesis in Archives of women's mental health, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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
20 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 31 citations in OpenAlex.
- Body composition changes in the postpartum: a systematic review on measurements and predictors.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2026Pooled it
- Breastfeeding challenges experienced by postpartum nurses after maternity leave: a qualitative systematic review.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2026Pooled it
- Intentions, practices, and social representations regarding breastfeeding among women experiencing social disadvantage: findings from the qualitative component of the ECAIL trial.International breastfeeding journal · 2026Trial
- Toward Sustainable Workplaces: The Roles of Work-Family Conflict, Social Support, and Meaning in Employee Well-Being and Performance After Parental Leave.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Attrition of the Midwifery Workforce: Understanding Factors Associated With Leaving the Profession.Health services research · 2026Article
- How do Australian workplaces support breastfeeding mothers in 2025? A content analysis to develop a 'Supportive Workplace Checklist'.Health promotion international · 2026Article
- Breastfeeding difficulties and maternal-infant bonding at three months postpartum in a Turkish cohort.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2026Article
- What are the factors that affect female healthcare workers on their return to work after maternity leave?British paramedic journal · 2025Article
- Prenatal Planning and Breastfeeding: Buffering Postpartum Depression Through Positive Affect.Brain sciences · 2025Article
- Are Children's Externalizing and Internalizing Behaviours at 5 Years Predicted by Maternal Perinatal Depression Trajectory Profiles?Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Breastfeeding: The Multifaceted Impact on Child Development and Maternal Well-Being.Nutrients · 2025Review
- Evidence-Based Lessons from Policy Implementation Research in Two Countries Achieving Progress on Global Breastfeeding Targets: Recommendations from the Philippines and Viet Nam.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Early employment after childbirth: a cross-sectional analysis using data from a national maternity survey in England.Journal of public health (Oxford, England) · 2025Article
- The decision-making process and experiences of women returning to work after parental leave: a qualitative systematic review protocol.Systematic reviews · 2025Article
- "A Mother Makes a Better Nurse": A Phenomenological Study of Neonatal Nurses' Readiness Recalibration Following Postpartum Return to Work.Journal of nursing management · 2025Article
- Deciphering the mechanism of women's mental health: a perspective of urban-rural differences.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Mothers balancing work and family: the associations with emotional well-being, sleep-wake problems and the role of basic needs.BMC psychology · 2024Article
- Return to work after parenting in thoracic surgery: a call to action.Interdisciplinary cardiovascular and thoracic surgery · 2024Article
- Training potential of a teleoperated humanoid robot for use by a young psychiatrist during childcare leave.PCN reports : psychiatry and clinical neurosciences · 2024Article
- Statistical Analysis of Maternal Health Disparities Among Working Women and Housewives: A Cross-Sectional Study on Pregnancy-Related Issues, Safe Childbirth, and Maternal Mortality.Inquiry : a journal of medical care organization, provision and financingArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeWorking women often experience difficulties associated with balancing family and career, particularly if they choose to have children. This systematic literature review aimed at investigating women's experience in returning to work after maternity leave.
methodsThe review was conducted using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses. The literature search led to the identification of 52 articles, which underwent data extraction and qualitative analysis.
resultsResults were organized in 5 categories: (1) Work-life balance; (2) Women's mental and physical health; (3) Job-related wellbeing and working experience; (4) Breastfeeding. Women's both mental and physical health seem connected to a longer maternity leave and a greater coworkers' and supervisors' support. Returning to work seems to constitute one of the most important barriers for exclusive breastfeeding or breastfeeding continuation. A shorter duration of maternity leave, a higher workload and the lack of occupational policies supporting breastfeeding seem to be hindering factors. Partner and family support, and the opportunity for fathers to work under a flextime system after childbirth seem to increase both breastfeeding initiation and duration. Women who continue breastfeeding after returning to work seem to experience more family-to-work conflict and overload.
conclusionsThis paper show that there are still many understudied aspects in exploring women's experience of returning to work after maternity leave. This represents an important gap in the literature, since returning to work represents a particularly critical time in women's personal and occupational life, in which challenges and barriers may arise, potentially affecting their experience in the immediate future and years to come.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.