A holistic approach to providing quality care for pregnant women: a systematic review

A holistic approach to antenatal care considers the pregnant woman’s emotional, social, and spiritual well-being in addition to her physical health. This review aimed to explore and analyse literature on the factors that influence the provision of quality and holistic antenatal care to pregnant women. A search of the EBSCO Host, Google Scholar, Sabinet, and ScienceDirect databases was conducted to identify suitable studies. The study included only English-language papers published in peer-reviewed journals between 2020 and 2024. The focus areas included two studies from Sub-Saharan Africa, four from Ethiopia, and one each from Europe, Australia, Rwanda, Ghana, Nigeria, Indonesia, Cameroon, and South Africa. The reviewed articles included pregnant women receiving antenatal care at public health institutions. A systematic review of the literature was employed for the study. The study questions were developed using the Population, Intervention, Comparison, Outcome, and Time methodology. Thematic analysis was used in accordance with Caulfield’s methodology. The study findings suggest that addressing socioeconomic status, staff attitudes, age, parity, religion, and the role of infrastructure can significantly improve the provision of holistic antenatal care in healthcare facilities. The analysis revealed several findings that underscore the need for holistic antenatal care to enhance pregnancy outcomes.