Women's Experiences of Screening and Assessment of Mental Health Problems in the Perinatal Period: A Systematic Review and Meta-synthesis.

Mental health problems occur frequently in the perinatal period and timely identification is key for appropriate support to be offered. Women are routinely asked about their mental health and may undergo formal screening as part of healthcare services in the perinatal period. The aim of this review was to explore women's views and experiences of being screened for mental health problems and to identify which aspects of this screening process they considered to be important. A systematic search was conducted across five electronic databases for potentially eligible studies published up to July 2025. A meta-ethnographic approach was used to synthesise the findings extracted from the thirty-eight papers included in the final analysis. Reciprocal translation resulted in a line of argument synthesis incorporating three over-arching themes. These were 'Opportunities presented by screening' 'Difficulties with screening' and 'Context and constraints'. Identification of salient aspects of the screening process revealed that preferences for how screening is conducted were varied, but more important than the specific method/mode used was the value that women placed on the concept of screening. Nevertheless, several process related factors, such as women's knowledge and expectations of screening, the screening method and environment, were found to be influential. An important implication for clinical care is that perinatal mental health screening can offer impactful and positive opportunities for women when they see value in the process and when this is facilitated by well validated, person-centred, and flexible screening approaches. Questions regarding suicide/self-harm specifically, presented difficulties, and there is an urgent need to examine how this can be made more acceptable to women.