Barriers and facilitators to uptake and use of oral pre-exposure prophylaxis in pregnant and postpartum women: a qualitative meta-synthesis

Background Acute HIV infection during pregnancy and in the postpartum period increases the risk of vertical transmission.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended preexposure prophylaxis for pregnant and postpartum women at risk of acquiring HIV.

However, there are significant gaps between the actual practice and the ideal goal of preexposure prophylaxis implementation among pregnant and postpartum women.

Therefore, it is important to determine what influences women’s implementation of preexposure prophylaxis during pregnancy and in the postpartum period.

This review aims to aggregate barriers and facilitators to preexposure prophylaxis implementation among pregnant and postpartum women.

Methods A range of electronic databases, including PubMed, CINAHL Plus with Full Text, Embase, and Web of Science, were searched for potentially relevant qualitative studies.

The search period extended from the establishment of the databases to March 16, 2023.

This review used the ENTREQ (Enhancing transparency in reporting of qualitative research synthesis) statement to guide the design and reporting of qualitative synthesis.

The methodological quality of the included studies was assessed using the Joanna Briggs Institute Critical Appraisal Checklist.

The JBI meta-aggregation method was applied for guiding the data extraction, and the JBI ConQual method was applied for guiding the evaluation of the level of evidence for the synthesis.

Results Of retrieved 2042 studies, 12 met the inclusion criteria.

The total population sample included 447 participants, including 231 pregnant and postpartum women, 21 male partners, 75 healthcare providers (HCPs)/healthcare workers (HCWs), 18 policymakers, 37 mothers, and 65 women of childbearing age.

A total of 149 findings with credibility ratings of “unequivocal” or “equivocal” were included in this meta-synthesis.

Barriers and facilitators to preexposure prophylaxis implementation were coded into seven categories, including three facilitator categories: perceived benefits, maintaining relationships with partners, and external support, and four barriers: medication-related barriers, stigma, barriers at the level of providers and facilities, and biases in risk perception.

Conclusion This systematic review and meta-synthesis aggregated the barriers and facilitators of preexposure prophylaxis implementation among pregnant and postpartum women.

We aggregated several barriers to maternal preexposure prophylaxis implementation, including medication-related factors, stigma, barriers at the level of providers and facilities, and risk perception biases.

Therefore, intervention measures for improving preexposure prophylaxis services can be developed based on these points.

PROSPERO Number CRD42023412631.