Table 1 Inclusion and exclusion criteria
| Â | Inclusion | Exclusion |
|---|---|---|
Participants | All stakeholders involved in implementing midwifery units: maternity teams, health institutions, professionals, service users | Models of care not specific to midwifery, birth settings managed or led by obstetricians or other healthcare professionals other than midwives, home births |
Phenomenon of interest | The process of implementation of a new MU which could be successful or not. For successful implementation we mean the establishment of a new MU after a process of change in the maternity care setting. | Focus on improvements of existing MUs Focus just on clinical outcomes or technical quality of care. Focus on specific issue (e.g. smoking cessation, vaginal birth after caesarean - VBAC). |
Outcomes | Implementation outcomes like acceptability, adoption, appropriateness, costs, feasibility, fidelity, penetration and sustainability. | No focus or substantial data on questions relating to implementation, sustaining and uptake or scaling up. |
Study design | All designs including action research, grounded theory, ethnography, mixed methods studies that include qualitative data collection and analysis. | No restrictions on the types of study design were applied. |
Study focus | Studies will need to cover aspects related to implementation outcomes in the data collection and analysis with particular attention to any relevant aspect or strategy related to the establishment of a new MU. | Clinical or technical quality of care. Focus on specific health issue (e.g. smoking cessation, VBAC). |
Setting | Both alongside (AMU) and freestanding (FMU) midwifery units. Birthing rooms physically/organisationally separated from the main OU. Maternity systems willing to/in the process of implementing a new MU. Private and public services All countries | None |
Time period | No time restriction | Â |
Language | English, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, French | Other languages that the team would not be able to translate adequately. |
Publication type | Peer reviewed articles Dissertation and theses Research reports | Any piece of research which cannot be peer reviewed by the research team (books, opinion pieces, commentaries, diaries etc.) |