Midwifery interventions to reduce fear of childbirth in pregnant women: a scoping review protocol

OBJECTIVE: The objective of the review is to map and analyze midwifery interventions to reduce fear of childbirth in pregnant women. INTRODUCTION: Fear of childbirth is a phenomenon negatively affecting women's health and well-being before and during pregnancy, as well as after childbirth. During the previous few decades, there has been a growing interest in research into interventions to reduce the fear of childbirth in childbearing women. Currently, providing an appropriate model of care for pregnant women with fear of childbirth is a challenge in midwifery care. Therefore, further efforts are needed to identify and examine the characteristics of different midwifery interventions to reduce fear of childbirth in pregnant women. INCLUSION CRITERIA: This scoping review will consider studies that include interventions to reduce fear of childbirth in pregnant women, led and implemented by midwives, during the antenatal period, in all possible birth scenarios. Quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods studies will be included. METHODS: The JBI methodology for conducting scoping reviews will be employed. Published and unpublished literature in English, Portuguese, and Spanish, from 1981 to the present, will be included. MEDLINE, CINAHL Complete, Scopus, Web of Science, Embase, and Cochrane Library databases will be searched. Searches for gray literature will be performed. Data will be extracted using a tool developed specifically for the scoping review objectives.