Migrant women’s experiences of health services: 

Arshad, F, Haith-Cooper, M and Phalloti, P (2018) The experiences of pregnant migrant women in detention; a qualitative study British Journal of Midwifery 26,9 https://hdl.handle.net/10454/16578

Balaam, M-C , Akerjordet K, Lyberg A, Kaiser B, Schoening E, Fredriksen A-M, Ensel A, Gouni O and Severinsson E(2013) A qualitative review of migrant women’s perceptions of their needs and experiences related to pregnancy and childbirth. Journal of Advanced Nursing 69(9), 1919– 1930. doi: 10.1111/jan.12139 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/jan.12139

Borrelli S., Ramasamy R., Wong R., Spiby H. (2023) Care and support during maternity for mothers affected by modern slavery: a scoping review. International Journal of Nursing Studies Advances, in press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnsa.2023.100139

Collins, Catherine, Skarparis, Katy (2020) The impact of human trafficking in relation to maternity care: A literature review. Midwifery, April Vol.83

Ellul, R, McCarthy R and Haith-Cooper M (2020), Destitution in pregnancy: Forced migrant women’s lived experience, British Journal of Midwifery 28,11 https://www.magonlinelibrary.com/doi/abs/10.12968/bjom.2020.28.11.778

Evans, M, Plows, J, McCarthy, R, McConville, B & Haith-Cooper, M (2022) What Refugee Women Want from Maternity Care: A Qualitative Study. British Journal of Midwifery. https://doi.org/10.12968/bjom.2022.30.9.502

Fair, F., Raben, L., Watson, H., Vivilaki, V., van den Muijsenbergh, M., Soltani, H., & the ORAMMA team, (2020). Migrant women’s experiences of pregnancy, childbirth and maternity care in European countries: A systematic review. PLOS ONE, 15 (2), e0228378. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0228378

Frank, G, Fox, D, Njue, C, Dawson, A (2021) The maternity experiences of women seeking asylum in high-income countries: a meta-ethnography. Women and Birth http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.wombi.2020.12.012

Haith-Cooper M, (2014) Mobile translators for non-English-speaking women accessing maternity services. British Journal of Midwifery, 22,11,795–803 https://hdl.handle.net/10454/6729

Johnson, E. (2021). Migrant access to maternity care: Lessons from Sweden. The Lunbury Trust, available at https://media.churchillfellowship.org/documents/Johnson_E_Report_2019_Final.pdf

Jones, L., McGranahan, M., Nispen tot Pannerden, C.v., Sanchez Clemente, N., Tatem, B. (2022). “They don’t count us as anything”. Inequalities in maternity care experienced by migrant pregnant women and babies. Available at https://www.doctorsoftheworld.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Maternity-care-report.pdf

Letley, K. (2023). Rahaf: No one put’s their child in a boat… In: Kenda Crozier and Julia Hubbard. (Ed). Dilemmas and Decision Making in Midwifery. St Albans: Critical Publishing.

Letley K, (2022) Midwives’ experiences caring for asylum-seeking women in the UK: a systematic review, British Journal of Midwifery, 30, 9

Lephard E, Haith-Cooper M, (2016) Pregnant and seeking asylum; exploring experiences ‘from booking to baby’ British Journal of Midwifery, 24, 2, 130-136 https://www.magonlinelibrary.com/doi/abs/10.12968/bjom.2016.24.2.130

Lonergan, G. (2023). Reproduction and the expanding border: pregnant migrants as a ‘problem’ in the 2014 Immigration Act. Sociology, DOI: 10.1177/00380385231157987

McKnight, P., Goodwin, L. and Kenyon, S., (2019). A systematic review of asylum-seeking women’s views and experiences of UK maternity care. Midwifery, 77, pp.16-23. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0266613819301317

Ogunlana, K, Stevenson, K, Cliftci, Y and Knight, M (2022) Engaging the less-often-heard in public health research grant writing: a case study of co-production involving underserved migrant mothers in the UK – The Lancet. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(22)02214-0/fulltext

Pařízková, A, Clausen, J (2019) Women on the move: A search for preferred birth services. Women and Birth. 32,4, e483-e491

Sharma E et al (2024) “When a story gets a face…”: Visual elicitation of Serbian perspectives on Afghan refugee women’s maternity experiences in Serbia. PLOS Global Public Health DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgph.0002563

Sharma E (2024) Afghan refugee women’s narratives of pregnancy and birth while “On the Move” through Serbia. BMC Proceedings DOI: 10.1186/s12919-024-00289-y

Sharma E (2022) Motherhood and mobility: Afghan women in Serbia. https://www.socialscienceinaction.org/blogs-and-news/motherhood-and-mobility-afghan-women-in-serbia/

Sharma E et al (2020) Navigating new lives: A scoping review and thematic synthesis of forced migrant women’s perinatal experiences. Journal of Migration and Health DOI: 10.1016/j.jmh.2020.100014

Soltani H, Fair F, Watson H, Raben L and Van den Muijsenbergh, M (2018). Migrant women’s experiences of perinatal care in European countries: a systematic review. European Journal of Public Health, 28 (Supp 1). Vol. 28. Oxford University Press (OUP). doi:1093/eurpub/cky047.147

Stacey, T, Haith-Cooper, M, Almas, N and Kenyon, C (2021) An exploration of migrant women’s perceptions of public health messages to reduce stillbirth in the UK: a qualitative study. BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth. 21:394 https://doi.org/10.1186/s12884-021-03879-2

Stevens, A.J., Ray, A.M., Thirunavukarasu, A., Johnson, E., Jones, L.. Miller, A., Elston, J.W.T. (2021). The experiences of socially vulnerable groups in England during the COVID-19 pandemic: A rapid health needs assessment. Public health in practice. 2:100192. DOI: 10.1016/j.puhip.2021.100192.

Interventions to support asylum seekers and refugees

Balaam, MC, Kingdon, C and Haith-Cooper, M (2021) A systematic review of perinatal social support interventions for asylum-seeking and refugee women residing in Europe. Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-021-01242-3

Balaam, M-C, Kingdon, C, Thomson, G, Finlayson, K and Downe, S (2015) ‘We make them feel special’: The experiences of voluntary sector workers supporting asylum seeking and refugee women during pregnancy and early motherhood. Midwifery March 2016 Volume 34, Pages 133–140. https://www.midwiferyjournal.com/article/S0266-6138(15)00341-1/abstract

Claisse, C, Durrant, A. C. & Lie, M (2024). Understanding Antenatal Care Needs through Co-Creation with Roma Women to Inform the Design of mHealth Technologies.  CHI ’24: Proceedings of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Hawaii. ACM Digital Library, 531:1-16. https://digitalcitizens.uk/projects/ericar-co-creating-an-antenatal-care-information-resource-with-czech-slovak-roma-women/https://doi.org/10.1145/3613904.3642584

Fernandez Turienzo C, Newburn M, Agyepong A, Buabeng R, Dignam A, Abe C, Bedward L, Rayment-Jones H, Silverio SA, Easter A, Carson L, Howard L, Sandall J. 2021. Addressing inequities in maternal health among women living in communities of social disadvantage and ethnic diversity.  On behalf of the NIHR ARC South London Maternity and Perinatal Mental Health Research and Advisory Teams. BMC Public Health. 21:176  https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-021-10182-4

Haith-Cooper M (2014) An evaluation of a family health programme for newly arrived asylum seekers living in an initial accommodation centre in Northern England MIDIRS, September, 24,3

https://hdl.handle.net/10454/6696

Haith-Cooper, M, Stacey, T, Bailey, F, Broadhead-Croft, S (2020) The co-development and feasibility-testing of a digital animation intervention (DAISI) to reduce the risk of maternal sepsis in the postnatal period. Maternal and Child Health https://rdcu.be/b3T57

Haith-Cooper, M, Stacey, T & Bailey, F (2018) Hospital postnatal discharge and sepsis advice: Perspectives of women and midwifery students. British Journal of Midwifery 26(4)

https://bradscholars.brad.ac.uk/handle/10454/15633

Haith-Cooper, M, Waskett, C, Montague, J and Horne, M (2018) Exercise and physical activity in asylum seekers in Northern England; using the theoretical domains framework to identify barriers and facilitators, BMC Public Health open access 18, 762

https://rdcu.be/0i5N

Jarrow, M, Haith-Cooper, M, Hargan, J and Balaam, MC (2021) A systematic review to identify key elements of effective public health interventions that address barriers to health services for refugees. Journal of Public Health. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10389-021-01519-9

Khan, Z et al. Targeted health and social care interventions for women and infants who are disproportionately impacted by health inequalities in high-income countries: a systematic review. International Journal for Equity in Health. 2023. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-023-01948-w

Letley, K (2022) The Maternity Stream of Sanctuary: a national movement celebrating maternity services that are inclusive and holistically safe for women seeking sanctuary. MIDIRS Midwifery Digest 32:4

M Lie, C Claisse, Z Karchnakova. (2023). Engaging Czech-Slovak Roma women in the co-creation of an antenatal care information resource. European Journal of Public Health, Volume 33, Issue Supplement_2, October 2023, ckad160.931, https://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckad160.931

McCarthy R, Haith-Cooper M (2013) Evaluating the impact of befriending for pregnant asylum seeking and refugee women. British Journal of Midwifery. 21(6): 276-281 https://bradscholars.brad.ac.uk/handle/10454/6697

Montague, J., & Haith-Cooper, M. (2021). A study to assess the feasibility of using a novel digital animation to increase physical activity levels in asylum seeking communities. Health & Social Care in the Community, 00, 1–9. DOI: 10.1111/hsc.13579

Rayment-Jones, H., Dalrymple, K., Harris, J.M., Harden, A., Parslow, E., Georgi, T. and Sandall, J., 2023. Project20: maternity care mechanisms that improve access and engagement for women with social risk factors in the UK–a mixed-methods, realist evaluation. BMJ open, 13(2). https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/13/2/e064291

Rayment-Jones H, Harris J, Harden A, Silverio SA, Turienzo CF, Sandall J. Project20: interpreter services for pregnant women with social risk factors in England: what works, for whom, in what circumstances, and how?. International journal for equity in health. 2021 Dec;20(1):1-1. https://equityhealthj.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12939-021-01570-8

Rayment-Jones H, Dalrymple K, Harris J, Harden A, Parslow E, Georgi T, Sandall J. Project20: Does continuity of care and community-based antenatal care improve maternal and neonatal birth outcomes for women with social risk factors? A prospective, observational study. PloS one. 2021 May 4;16(5):e0250947. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0250947

Rayment-Jones H, Harris J, Harden A, Silverio SA, Turienzo CF, Sandall J. 2022. Project20: Maternity care mechanisms that improve (or exacerbate) health inequalities. A realist evaluation. Women and Birth. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wombi.2022.11.006

Savas S et al (2024) Migrant-sensitive healthcare in Europe: advancing health equity through accessibility, acceptability, quality, and trust. The Lancet Regional Health–Europe DOI: 10.1016/j.lanepe.2023.100805 

Stevenson, K., Ogunlana, K., Henderson, W., Edwards, S., Clemente, N., Rayment-Jones, H., McGranahan, M., Castaner, M.M., Fellmeth, G., Luchenski, S. and Stevenson, F., 2023. Interventions to improve maternity outcomes for migrant women in high-income countries: preliminary findings from a systematic review. Population Medicine, 5(Supplement).

Perinatal mental health and forced migrant women

Collins, C; Zimmermann C; Howard L (2011) Refugee, asylum seeker, immigrant women and postnatal depression: rates and risk factors. Archives of Women’s Mental Health, 2011 14(1) pp 3-11.

Firth, A, Haith-Cooper, M, Dickerson, J & Hart, A (2022) Perinatal depression: Factors affecting help-seeking behaviours in asylum seeking and refugee women. A systematic review. Journal of Migration and Health https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmh.2022.100128  

Firth A and Haith-Cooper M (2018) Vulnerable migrant women and postnatal depression: A case of invisibility in maternity services? British Journal of Midwifery. 26(2): 78-84. https://bradscholars.brad.ac.uk/handle/10454/14735

Watson H, Harrop D, Walton E, Young A, Soltani H (2019) A systematic review of ethnic minority women’s experiences of perinatal mental health conditions and services in Europe. PLoS ONE 14(1): e0210587. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0210587

Watson H & Soltani H. (2019) Perinatal mental ill health – the experiences of women from ethnic minority groups. British Journal of Midwifery, https://doi.org/10.12968/bjom.2019.27.10.642

Educational research about migrant women

Haith-Cooper M, Bradshaw G (2013) Meeting the health and social needs of pregnant asylum seekers; midwifery students perspectives. Part 1; Dominant discourses and midwifery students. Nurse Education Today, 33,9, 1008–1013

https://bradscholars.brad.ac.uk/handle/10454/6695

Haith-Cooper M, Bradshaw G (2013) Meeting the health and social needs of pregnant asylum seekers; midwifery students’ perspectives. Part 2; Dominant discourses and approaches to care. Nurse Education Today.33,8, 772-777

https://bradscholars.brad.ac.uk/handle/10454/6687

Haith-Cooper M, Bradshaw G (2013) Meeting the health and social needs of pregnant asylum seekers; midwifery students’ perspectives. Part 3; The pregnant woman within the global context”; an inclusive model for midwifery education to address the needs of recently arrived migrant women in the UK. Nurse Education Today. 33,9,1045–1050

https://bradscholars.brad.ac.uk/handle/10454/6689

Sharma E et al (2024) The nexus between maternity care and bordering practices: A qualitative study of provider perspectives on maternal healthcare provision for Afghan women migrating through Serbia. Social Science & Medicine DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.116880

Increasing resilience in migrant women: 

Balaam, M-C, Haith-Cooper, M, Korfker D, Savona-Ventura (2017)  Asylum seekers and refugees: a cross European perspective. In: Psychosocial resilience and risk in the perinatal period: implications and guidance for professionals. edt. G Thomson & V Schmied Routledge London

https://bradscholars.brad.ac.uk/handle/10454/13022

Duclos D et al (2024) Unsafe and unstable housing for refugees and asylum seekers is a threat to intergenerational health BMJ DOI: 10.1136/bmj.q561

Sharma E (2021) Rethinking Vulnerability: labelling of the so-called ‘vulnerable migrant woman’. The Practising Midwife DOI:10.55975/ziyo8984

Viken, B, Balaam, M-C and Lyberg, A (2017) A salutogenic perspective on maternity care for migrant women. In: New thinking on improving maternity care: International perspectives. Pinter & Martin. ISBN 978-1-78066-240-4

General migrant women 

Alam Z, Cairns JM, Scott M, Dean JA, Janda M (2023) Interventions to increase cervical screening uptake among immigrant women: A systematic review and meta-analysis. PLoS ONE 18(6): e0281976. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0281976

Blanco Gutiérrez V, Hundley VA, Way S. ‘The Experience of Women From Underrepresented Groups With Urinary Incontinence: A Systematic Review’. Journal of Transcultural Nursing;0(0). doi:10.1177/10436596231172205

Duda-Mikulin, E.A. (2021). Access to social welfare as a facilitator of migrant women’s gender roles. In T. Fouskas (Ed.) Migrants and Refugees in Times of Crisis. European Public Law Organisation.

Lonergan, G (2020) Reflections on ten years of austerity: Immigration controls, economic discipline and reproductive justice Feminist Review https://femrev.wordpress.com/2020/04/22/reflections-on-ten-years-of-austerity-immigration-controls-economic-discipline-and-reproductive-justice/

Webb, L., Clayson, A., Duda-Mikulin, E. (2020). ‘I’m getting the balls to say no’ – Recovery trajectories and identity change: social identity and individualisation in short- and longer-term recovery. Journal of Health Psychology, doi: 10.1177/1359105320941248

McKnight, P. and Coles, A., (2020). Gendered Considerations In The Asylum System During Covid-19- Guidance For Organisations Supporting Asylum-Seeking And Refugee Women. [online] Liverpool: Refugee Women Connect. Available at: https://www.refugeewomenconnect.org.uk/Handlers/Download.ashx?IDMF=372942b4-1b20-443f-8c1f-8813a16a9ff9

Pertek, S., Phillimore, J. and McKnight, P., (2020). Forced Migration, SGBV And Covid-19. [online] Birmingham: Institute for Research into Superdiversity (IRiS) and Refugee Women Connect. Available at: https://www.refugeewomenconnect.org.uk/Handlers/Download.ashx?IDMF=80da0a18-6898-43a4-8265-3fa4e8fe0d25

Duda-Mikulin, E.A., Scullion, L., Currie, R. (2020) Wasted humans in scapegoat Britain: overlaps and departures between disability studies and migration studies. Disability & Society, doi: 10.1080/09687599.2019.1690428

Duda-Mikulin, E.A. (2020). Brexit and EU migrant workers in the UK: Polish women’s perspective in “Whither Social Rights in (Post-)Brexit Europe?” edited by Donoghue M. and Kuisma M. published by Social Europe: https://socialeurope.eu/book/whither-social-rights-in-post-brexit-europe

Duda-Mikulin, E.A. (2019). Why she’s leaving home: the pressures that drove Polish women to the UK. The LSE Brexit Blog. Available from: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/brexit/2019/06/21/why-shes-leaving-home-the-pressures-that-drove-polish-women-to-the-uk/

Duda-Mikulin, E.A. (2019). I spoke to 40 UK-based Polish women about Brexit – here’s what I found. The Conversation. Available from: https://theconversation.com/i-spoke-to-40-uk-based-polish-women-about-brexit-heres-what-i-found-112787

Villarroel N, Hannigan A, Severoni S, Puthoopparambil S. MacFarlane A. (2019) Migrant health research in the republic of ireland: a scoping review. BMC Public Health,19:324. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-019-6651-2

Duda-Mikulin, E.A. (2019). EU migrant workers, Brexit and precarity. Polish women’s perspectives from inside the UK. Bristol: Policy Press. 

Duda-Mikulin, E.A. (2018). Migrant women’s welfare in times of crisis. In T. Fouskas (Ed.) Migrants and Refugees in Times of Crisis. European Public Law Organisation.

Duda-Mikulin, E.A. (2017). ‘Should I stay or should I go now?’ Exploring Polish women’s returns “home”. International Migration. Doi:  10.1111/imig.12420.

Balaam, MC, Haith-Cooper, M, Pařízková, A, Weckend, M, Fleming, V, Roosalu, T, Špoljar Vržina, S. (2017) A concept analysis of the term migrant women in the context of pregnancy. International Journal of Nursing Practice, 23,6

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5813171/

Villarroel N, Artazcoz L. (2016) Different patterns in health care use among immigrants in Spain. Journal of immigrant and minority health. Apr 1;18(2):318-29.

Lonergan, G. (2015) Migrant Women and Social Reproduction Under Austerity Feminist Review 109: 124-143
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/fr.2014.43

Duda-Mikulin, E.A. (2014). Interviewing Polish Migrant Women in the United Kingdom and Poland. In SAGE Research Methods Cases. London, United Kingdom: SAGE Publications, Ltd. doi: 10.4135/978144627305014529524.

Duda-Mikulin, E.A. (2013). Migration as opportunity? A case study of Polish women: migrants in the UK and returnees in Poland. Problemy Polityki Społecznej (Eng.: Social Policy Issues), 23(4), pp. 105-121.

Duda-Mikulin, E.A. (2013). Citizenship in action? A case study of Polish migrant women moving between Poland and the UK. Culture & Education, 6(99), pp. 205-224.

Lonergan, G. (2012) Reproductive Justice and Migrant Women in Great Britain Women: A Cultural Review 23(1): 26-45
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09574042.2012.644490

Additional resources

Letley, K., Spooner, J. 2022. Maternity Stream of Sanctuary Resource Pack. [Online]. Available at: https://cdn.cityofsanctuary.org/uploads/sites/45/2022/01/WEB-LINK-VERSION-MATERNITY-RESOURCE-PACK-24-1-22-DRAFT-1.pdf