Human-centered design and maternity care: is this a possible interplay?-a systematic review

This paper argues that putting women at the center of care requires the right balance between adequate clinical care and human-centered design (HCD) approaches. Enhancing their experience during the maternity journey would make it possible to address societal challenges and effectively achieve the humanization of maternity care. Thus, the aim is to investigate the interplay between human-centered design and maternity care through a literature review. MEDLINE (Pubmed), CINAHL (EBSCO), Web of Science, and Scopus databases were searched, and twenty-one papers were selected as primary studies according to predefined inclusion criteria and as per agreement of the authors, either from design/social sciences or clinical backgrounds. Studies from eight countries targeting prenatal, childbirth, and/or postnatal care were reviewed, including healthcare professionals and pregnant women as participants. A systematic approach was followed for the papers, and specific attention was paid to socioeconomic and racial issues. The last phase included prototype testing, which involved digital resources development. Creating solutions for the mainstay problems throughout HCD is a helpful tool in surpassing systems' problems and disadvantages, allowing for identifying and accurately targeting healthcare system gaps and maternity care opportunities to achieve a positive and humanized journey.