Literature review of midwifery studies during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to review the trends and findings of previous domestic and international studies on midwifery during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods

A literature search in the Japan Medical Abstracts Society (Ichushi-Web) and PubMed, using “COVID-19,” “JYOSAN (midwifery in Japanese)” and “midwifery,” as keywords, identified 96 articles (six in Japanese and 90 in English). The following information was extracted and classified: research topic, country of origin, study design, subjects, data collection method, type of data analysed, and ethical considerations.

Results

The most common research topics were maternity care services provided by healthcare professionals (30 articles), the use of maternity care services by pregnant and postpartum women and their families (24 articles), infection management (17 articles), and mental health of healthcare providers (16 articles). The most frequent country of origin was Turkey (11 articles), followed by the United Kingdom (10 articles), Japan, and Australia (nine articles each). The most common study designs were cross-sectional studies (71 articles), literature reviews (nine articles), cohort studies (six articles), and case reports (four articles). The subjects analysed most were medical personnel or medical students (64 articles), non-medical personnel (e.g., pregnant and postpartum women, their families, and neonates, 37 articles), and documents, including medical records, government documents, and academic papers (13 articles). The data collection methods more frequently used were online survey, internet search, phone, email, or mailing method (58 articles), and literature search (14 articles). The data analysed were quantitative (62 articles), qualitative (25 articles), and existing documents (16 articles). Seventy-six articles included a description of ethical considerations, whereas 18 did not.

Conclusion

The three most common topics (74.0%) of articles published during the COVID-19 pandemic were maternity care services provided by healthcare professionals, the use of maternity care services by pregnant and postpartum women and their families, and infection management. The number of studies analysing medical personnel or medical students was 1.7 times higher than those on different subjects. Therefore, the studies possibly contributing to healthcare professionals’ infection control may have been prioritized during the pandemic. The majority were cross-sectional studies on data collected indirectly through online surveys, internet searches, phone, or email (60.4%) and from existing documents (16 articles), possibly due to the concern about conducting studies targeting care receivers directly, such as pregnant and postpartum women and their families. This study identified concrete strategies for maintaining and developing research activities during the pandemic.