A Qualitative Meta-synthesis Describing the Psychosocial Impacts After Birth Trauma

To synthesize qualitative research on the psychosocial impacts of birth trauma.

PubMed, PsycInfo, and Embase.

Qualitative studies were included if published from January 2015 through January 2025, in English, with data focusing on the postpartum psychosocial impact of birth trauma. The final sample resulted in the inclusion of five articles.

Quality appraisal was specific to assess qualitative rigor. Findings were extracted from included articles and synthesized, providing insight into the psychological impacts of birth trauma.

We analyzed and synthesized data from the included articles using quality appraisal, article characteristic synthesis, and reciprocal translation analysis, a method that enables the translation of themes and concepts to synthesize findings into a comprehensive understanding of a specific phenomenon. This revealed that birth trauma has significant negative and positive psychosocial effects on women in the postpartum period. Themes included birth trauma affecting their self-perceptions, mental health, relationships with the infant and partner, and trust in health care.

Birth trauma produces enduring harm across a woman's identity, mental health, relationships, bonding, reproductive decision-making, and trust in health care, although some women report posttraumatic growth over time. Notably, in our sample, the only study including ethnically diverse participants reported no growth, suggesting that obstetric racism may blunt positive growth trajectories for women of color and warrants an explicit, equity-focused systemic response. Culturally competent trauma-informed care frameworks emphasizing comprehension of consent, individualized care, postpartum debriefing, prenatal screening for previous trauma, and cross-disciplinary coordination can mitigate these effects and equitably support families. Health systems should standardize debriefing and train staff in trauma-informed care and perinatal posttraumatic stress disorder recognition with antiracism competencies. Focused efforts to identify and support mothers equitably can improve maternal-infant outcomes and rebuild trust.