Mapping the evidence on factors influencing postpartum contraception among sub-Saharan African immigrant and refugee women in the United States: a scoping review

Duane M, Stanford JB, Porucznik CA, Vigil P. Fertility Awareness-Based Methods for Women’s Health and Family Planning. Front Med [Internet]. 2022 May 24 [cited 2025 July 14];9. Available from: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/medicine/articles/https://doi.org/10.3389/fmed.2022.858977/full 10.3389/fmed.2022.858977/full

[3]

How Contraceptive Use Affects Birth Intervals: Results of a Literature Review

Marissa Pine Yeakey, Carie J. Muntifering, Daesha V. Ramachandran et al.

Studies in Family Planning 2009 10.1111/j.1728-4465.2009.00203.x

[4]

Singh S, Darroch JE, Ashford LS, Vlassoff M, Newborn Health. Adding It Up: The Costs and Benefits of Investing in Family Planning and Maternal and. 2009 Dec 3 [cited 2025 July 14]; Available from: https://www.guttmacher.org/report/adding-it-costs-and-benefits-investing-family-planning-and-maternal-and-newborn-health

[5]

Canning D, Schultz TP. The economic consequences of reproductive health and family planning. Lancet. 2012 July;14(9837):165–71. 10.1016/s0140-6736(12)60827-7

[6]

Ajayi KV, Panjwani S, Wilson K, Garney WR. Using the Social-Ecological model to understand the current perspective of contraceptive use in the united states: A narrative literature review. Women. 2021;1(4):212–22. 10.3390/women1040019

[7]

James S, Toombs M, Brodribb W. Barriers and enablers to postpartum contraception among Aboriginal Australian women: factors influencing contraceptive decisions. Aust J Prim Health. 2018 July 12;24(3):241–7. 10.1071/py17041

[8]

Lokotola CL, Mash R, Sethlare V, Shabani J, Temitope I, Baldwin-Ragaven L. Migration and primary healthcare in sub-Saharan Africa: A scoping review. Afr J Prim Health Care Fam Med. 2024 July 12;16(1):4507. 10.4102/phcfm.v16i1.4507

[9]

Mitchell C. Understanding Refugee Women’s Contraceptive Health Needs: A Scoping Review [Internet]. Université d’Ottawa / University of Ottawa; 2023 [cited 2025 July 14]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/10393/44689

[10]

Greenwood HL. Negotiating and Constructing Place: African Immigrant and Refugee Women’s Experiences Seeking Reproductive Health Information, Services and Support [Internet]. Université d’Ottawa / University of Ottawa; 2017 [cited 2025 July 14]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/10393/36617

[11]

Rich S, Haintz G, McKenzie H, Graham M. Factors that shape women’s reproductive Decision-Making: A scoping review. J Res Gend Stud. 2021;11(2):9–31. 10.22381/jrgs11220211

[12]

Barro A, Bado AR. Religious leaders’ knowledge of family planning and modern contraceptive use and their involvement in family planning programmes in Burkina faso: A qualitative study in Dori in the Sahel region. Open Access J Contracept 2021 June 28;12:123–32. 10.2147/oajc.s315395

[13]

Barrett JB, DaVanzo J, Ellison CG, Grammich C. Religion and attitudes toward family planning issues among US adults. Rev Religious Res. 2014 June;56(1):161–88. 10.1007/s13644-013-0136-z

[14]

Pangas J, Ogunsiji O, Elmir R, Raman S, Liamputtong P, Burns E, et al. Refugee women’s experiences negotiating motherhood and maternity care in a new country: A meta-ethnographic review. Int J Nurs Stud. 2019;90:31–45. 10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2018.10.005

[15]

Shahawy S, Onwuzurike C, Premkumar A, Henricks AA, Simon MA. Perspectives of women of refugee background on healthcare needs in a major urban metropolitan community in the US: A qualitative needs assessment. Health Soc Care Community. 2022;30(6):e5637–46. 10.1111/hsc.13989

[16]

Contributors to Health Inequities in Rural Latinas of Childbearing Age: An Integrative Review Using an Ecological Framework - Donna, Schminkey L. Xiaoyue Liu, Sandra Annan, Erika Metzler Sawin, 2019 [Internet]. [cited 2025 July 14]. Available from: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244018823077 10.1177/2158244018823077

[17]

Stirling-Cameron E, Almukhaini S, Dol J, DuPlessis BJ, Stone K, Aston M, et al. Access and use of sexual and reproductive health services among asylum-seeking and refugee women in high-income countries: A scoping review. PLoS ONE. 2024;19(11):e0312746. 10.1371/journal.pone.0312746

[18]

Sawadogo PM, Sia D, Onadja Y, Beogo I, Sangli G, Sawadogo N, et al. Barriers and facilitators of access to sexual and reproductive health services among migrant, internally displaced, asylum seeking and refugee women: A scoping review. PLoS ONE. 2023 Sept;14(9):e0291486. 10.1371/journal.pone.0291486

[19]

Dev R, Kohler P, Feder M, Unger JA, Woods NF, Drake AL. A systematic review and meta-analysis of postpartum contraceptive use among women in low- and middle-income countries. Reprod Health. 2019;16(1):154. 10.1186/s12978-019-0824-4

[20]

Makins A, Cameron S. Post pregnancy contraception. Best practice & research clinical obstetrics & gynaecology. 2020 July 1;66:41–54. 10.1016/j.bpobgyn.2020.01.004

[21]

Agbemenu K, Mencia JJ, de Rosa C, Aidoo-Frimpong G, Ely G. Family planning research in African immigrant and refugee women: a scoping review. J Transcult Nurs. 2022;33(3):416–26. 10.1177/10436596211072891

[22]

Olorunsaiye CZ, Badru MA, Osborne A, Degge HM, Yaya S. Mapping the evidence on factors related to postpartum contraception among sub-Saharan African immigrant and refugee women in the united States of america: A scoping review protocol. PLoS ONE. 2024;19(5):e0304222. 10.1371/journal.pone.0304222

[23]

Livingston G. Foreign-born moms have a different demographic profile than U.S.-born moms, and among the foreign born there are sharp differences tied to region of birth [Internet]. Pew Research Center. 2016 [cited 2024 May 13]. Available from: https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2016/10/26/foreign-born-moms-have-a-different-demographic-profile-than-u-s-born-moms-and-among-the-foreign-born-there-are-sharp-differences-tied-to-region-of-birth/

[24]

Crenshaw K. Demarginalizing the intersection of race and sex: A black feminist critique of antidiscrimination Doctrine, feminist theory and antiracist politics. Univ Chic Legal Forum. 1989;140(1):139–67.

[25]

Mapping the evidence on factors influencing postpartum contraception among sub-Saharan African immigrant and refugee women in the United States: a scoping review

Comfort Z. Olorunsaiye, Augustus Osborne, Hannah M. Degge et al.

Reproductive Health 10.1186/s12978-026-02284-2

[26]

Updated methodological guidance for the conduct of scoping reviews

Micah D.J. Peters, Casey Marnie, Andrea C. Tricco et al.

JBI Evidence Implementation 2021 10.1097/xeb.0000000000000277

[27]

Organization WH. Development USA for I. Programming strategies for postpartum family planning [Internet]. World Health Organization; 2013 [cited 2025 July 10]. Available from: https://iris.who.int/handle/10665/93680

[28]

Postpartum Birth Control [Internet]. [cited 2023 Aug 1]. Available from: https://www.acog.org/womens-health/faqs/postpartum-birth-control

[29]

Family planning/contraception methods [Internet]. [cited 2023 Aug 31]. Available from: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/family-planning-contraception

[30]

Ansari-Thomas HD. Immigrant Women’s Access to Sexual and Reproductive Health Coverage and Care in the United States. 2018.

[31]

Chalmiers MA, Karaki F, Muriki M, Mody SK, Chen A, Thiel de Bocanegra H. Refugee women’s experiences with contraceptive care after resettlement in high-income countries: A critical interpretive synthesis. Contraception. 2022;108:7–18. 10.1016/j.contraception.2021.11.004

[32]

Rai HK, Cavalcanti Barroso A, Yates L, Schneider J, Orrell M. Involvement of people with dementia in the development of Technology-Based interventions: narrative synthesis review and best practice guidelines. J Med Internet Res. 2020;22(12):e17531. 10.2196/17531

[33]

Heller RF, Verma A, Gemmell I, Harrison R, Hart J, Edwards R. Critical appraisal for public health: A new checklist. Public Health. 2008;122(1):92–8. 10.1016/j.puhe.2007.04.012

[34]

Airhihenbuwa CO. Health and Culture: Beyond the Western Paradigm, by Colin C. Airhihenbuwa. 1995.

[35]

Airhihenbuwa CO. A conceptual model for culturally appropriate health education programs in developing countries. Int Q Community Health Educ. 1990;11(1):53–62. 10.2190/lpkh-pmpj-dbw9-fp6x

[36]

Blackstone SR, Nwaozuru U, Iwelunmor J. Factors influencing contraceptive use in Sub-Saharan africa: A systematic review. Int Q Community Health Educ. 2017;37(2):79–91. 10.1177/0272684x16685254

[37]

Chemuru NR, Srinivas SC. Application of the PEN-3 cultural model in assessing factors affecting adolescent pregnancies in rural Eastern Cape, South Africa. IJRFSH. 2015;1–8. 10.19070/2377-1887-si01001

[38]

Incorporating intersectionality theory into population health research methodology: Challenges and the potential to advance health equity

Greta R. Bauer

Social Science & Medicine 10.1016/j.socscimed.2014.03.022

[39]

Cope AG, Mara KC, Weaver AL, Casey PM. Postpartum contraception usage among Somali women in olmsted County, Minnesota. Obstet Gynecol. 2019;133(4):762–9. 10.1097/aog.0000000000003154

[40]

Stevens R, Schiffman B, Justicia-Linde F, Shelton J, Sexual. Reproductive Healthc. 2023;37:100897. 10.1016/j.srhc.2023.100897

[41]

Maru S, Glenn L, Belfon K, Birnie L, Brahmbhatt D, Hadler M, et al. Utilization of maternal health care among immigrant mothers in new York City, 2016–2018. J Urb Health. 2021;98(6):711–26. 10.1007/s11524-021-00584-5

[42]

Millar A, Vogel RI, Bedell SM, Looby MA, Hubbs JL, Harlow BL, et al. Patterns of postpartum contraceptive use among Somali immigrant women living in Minnesota. Contracept Reproductive Med. 2017;2(1):14–14. 10.1186/s40834-017-0041-x

[43]

Deyo NS. Cultural traditions and the reproductive health of Somali refugees and immigrants. 2012.

[44]

Cox CM, Ahmed F, Mitchell A, Ganey A, Kahin A, Kahin A. Decision making and communication about child spacing among Somali couples in Minnesota. Perspect Sex Reprod Health. 2019 June;51(2):63–9. 10.1363/psrh.12100

[45]

Khan A, DeYoung SE. Maternal health services for refugee populations: exploration of best practices. Glob Public Health. 2019;14(3):362–74. 10.1080/17441692.2018.1516796

[46]

Agbemenu K, Volpe EM, Dyer E. Reproductive health decision-making among US-dwelling Somali Bantu refugee women: A qualitative study. J Clin Nurs 2018 Sept;27(17–18):3355–62. 10.1111/jocn.14162

[47]

Zhang Y, Zhang Y, McCoy E, Scego R, Phillips WR, Godfrey EM. A qualitative exploration of Somali refugee women’s experiences with family planning in the U.S. J Immigr Minor Health. 2020;22(1):66–73. 10.1007/s10903-019-00887-5

[48]

Family Planning Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices Among Somali and Congolese Refugee Women After Resettlement to the United States

Pamela A. Royer, Lenora M. Olson, Brandi Jackson et al.

Qualitative Health Research 2020 10.1177/1049732319861381

[49]

Hankivsky O, Grace D, Hunting G, Giesbrecht M, Fridkin A, Rudrum S, et al. An intersectionality-based policy analysis framework: critical reflections on a methodology for advancing equity. Int J Equity Health. 2014;13(1):119. 10.1186/s12939-014-0119-x

[50]

Viruell-Fuentes EA, Miranda PY, Abdulrahim S. More than culture: structural racism, intersectionality theory, and immigrant health. Soc Sci Med. 2012;75(12):2099–106. 10.1016/j.socscimed.2011.12.037

Showing 50 of 62 references

Cited By

1

Mapping the evidence on factors influencing postpartum contraception among sub-Saharan African immigrant and refugee women in the United States: a scoping review

Comfort Z. Olorunsaiye, Augustus Osborne · 2026

Reproductive Health

Metrics

1

Citations

62

References

Details

Published: Mar 04, 2026
Vol/Issue: 23(1)
License: View

Authors

C

Comfort Z. Olorunsaiye

School of International Development and Global Studies, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; The George Institute for Global Health, Imperial College London, London, UK

Cite This Article

Comfort Z. Olorunsaiye, Augustus Osborne, Hannah M. Degge, et al. (2026). Mapping the evidence on factors influencing postpartum contraception among sub-Saharan African immigrant and refugee women in the United States: a scoping review. Reproductive Health, 23(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12978-026-02284-2

Mapping the evidence on factors influencing postpartum contraception among sub-Saharan African immigrant and refugee women in the United States: a scoping review

You May Also Like