Barriers and facilitators of access to sexual and reproductive health services among migrant, internally displaced, asylum seeking and refugee women: A scoping review

Pengdewendé Maurice Sawadogo, Drissa Sia, Yentéma Onadja, Idrissa Beogo, Gabriel Sangli, Nathalie Sawadogo, Assé Gnambani, Gaëtan Bassinga, Stephanie Robins, Eric Tchouaket Nguemeleu, Pengdewendé Maurice Sawadogo, Drissa Sia, Yentéma Onadja, Idrissa Beogo, Gabriel Sangli, Nathalie Sawadogo, Assé Gnambani, Gaëtan Bassinga, Stephanie Robins, Eric Tchouaket Nguemeleu

Abstract

Introduction: Migrant, internally displaced, asylum seeking and refugee women experience ongoing risks of having their reproductive healthcare rights violated. This ever-increasing population also has limited access to sexual and reproductive health services. We conducted a scoping review to identify the barriers and facilitating factors when accessing sexual and reproductive health services for this specific population.

Methods: We searched the grey literature and queried eight bibliographic databases (Embase, Medline, Cinahl, Scopus, Science Direct, Web of Science, Hinari, and Cochrane Library) to extract articles published between January, 2000, and October, 2021. The extracted data were organized in a framework adapted from Peters et al. and then categorized as facilitators or barriers. We followed the Arksey and O'Malley framework and wrote the report according to the PRISMA-Scr recommendations.

Results: The search identified 4,722 records of which forty-two (42) met eligibility criteria and were retained for analysis. Ten (10) groups of factors facilitating and/or limiting access to sexual and reproductive health care emerged from the synthesis of the retained articles. The main barriers were lack of knowledge about services, cultural unacceptability of services, financial inaccessibility, and language barriers between patients and healthcare providers. Facilitators included mobile applications for translation and telehealth consultations, patients having a wide availability of information sources, the availability health promotion representatives, and healthcare providers being trained in cultural sensitivity, communication and person-centered care.

Conclusion: Ensuring the sexual and reproductive rights of migrant, internally displaced, asylum-seeking and refugee women requires that policymakers and health authorities develop intervention strategies based on barriers and facilitators identified in this scoping review. Therefore, considering their mental health in future studies would enable a better understanding of the barriers and facilitators of access to sexual and reproductive health services.

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Copyright: © 2023 Sawadogo et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Figures

Fig 1. Prisma flow-chart of identified and…
Fig 1. Prisma flow-chart of identified and screened records.
Fig 2. Conceptual framework of facilitating factors…
Fig 2. Conceptual framework of facilitating factors and barriers to access to reproductive health services by migrant, internally displaced, asylum seeking and refugee women.

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