Understanding how midwife-led continuity of care can be implemented and under what circumstances: a realist review.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

To understand how and under what circumstances midwife-led continuity of care (MLCC) can be implemented in high-income countries.

Design

A realist review was conducted to examine interactions between contexts, mechanisms and outcomes.

Methods

An initial programme theory described a hypothesis of how MLCC might be implemented successfully. Literature from a systematic search on the implementation of MLCC was synthesised and supplemented with unstructured searches to identify literature that reinforced the emerging concepts. The synthesis was an iterative process, endorsed in consultation with stakeholders, leading to a refined programme theory.

Results

A total of 45 documents were included. The mechanisms identified can be grouped around macrolevel ch

SUBMITTER: Simmelink R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11842984 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature