Qualitative systematic review of general practitioners' (GPs') views and experiences of providing postnatal care

Objectives: Develop an understanding of the views and experiences of general practitioners (GPs) about their role in postnatal care, including barriers and facilitators to good care, and timing and content of planned postnatal checks.

Design: Qualitative systematic review.

Data sources: Electronic database searches of MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, PubMed, Web of Science, PsychINFO from January 1990 to September 2021. Grey literature and guideline references from National Institute of Health and Care Excellence, WHO, International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Royal College of General Practitioners, Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.

Inclusion criteria: Papers reporting qualitative data on views and experiences of GPs about postnatal care, including discrete clinical conditions in the postnatal period. Papers were screened independently by two reviewers and disputes resolved by a third reviewer.

Quality appraisal: The Critical Appraisal Skills Programme checklist was used to appraise studies.

Data extraction and synthesis: Thematic synthesis involving line-by-line coding, generation of descriptive then analytical themes was conducted by the review team. The Capability, Opportunity, Motivation-Behaviour (COM-B) model was used to develop analytical themes.

Results: 20 reports from 18 studies met inclusion criteria. Studies were published from 2008 to 2021, reporting on 469 GPs. 13 were from UK or Australia. Some also reported views of non-GP participants. The clinical focus of studies varied, for example: perinatal mental health, postnatal contraception. Five themes were generated, four mapped to COM-B: psychological capability, physical opportunity, social opportunity and motivation. One theme was separate from the COM-B model: content and timing of postnatal checks. Strong influences were in physical and social opportunity, with time and organisation of services being heavily represented. These factors sometimes influenced findings in the motivation theme.

Conclusions: GPs perceived their role in postnatal care as a positive opportunity for relationship building and health promotion. Addressing organisational barriers could impact positively on GPs' motivation to provide the best care.

Prospero registration number: 268982.