Characteristics of quantitative studies, quantitative thematic/content analysis, descriptive analysis and mixed methods
| Study author Country/Region or city | Stated method research design | Data collection | Data analysis | Aim | Sample/Type of sampling | Setting of midwifery service | Mode of telehealth used | Type of care pertinent to study |
| Bailey et al28 Australia, State of Victoria | Quantitative Cross-sectional design First phase of an explanatory sequential future mixed methods study | Online non-validated survey Data collected April to September 2017 | Descriptive statistics and non-parametric statistics χ2, Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis H tests to analyse relationships between variables | To gather the experiences and practices of midwives in their management of triage | n=230 practicing midwives surveyed Purposive | Public and private hospital and practice settings with low-risk, medium-risk and high-risk populations | Telephone | Labour and delivery and triage |
| Bradfield et al30 Australia, nationwide including urban, regional, rural and remote areas | Quantitative Cross-sectional design with descriptive analysis | Online non-validated survey and semi-structured interviews May to June 2020 | Descriptive statistics Transcripts analysed with four-stage thematic analysis | To explore and describe Australian midwives’ experience of providing maternity care during COVID-19 pandemic | n=620 midwives (16 of 620 were interviewed) Convenience | Public and private hospitals, group practices, private practice and out-of-hospital birth | Telephone and videoconferencing | Antenatal, labour and delivery, post partum |
| Galle et al*22 Nigeria, Costa Rica, Norway, Uganda, Kenya, Bangladesh, Germany, USA, Nepal, France and Argentina† 71 countries surveyed | Quantitative Cross-sectional design with thematic analysis | Online non-validated survey 5 July 2020 to 10 September 2020 | Descriptive statistics and qualitative thematic analysis of open text questions | To document the experiences with providing telemedicine for maternal and newborn healthcare during COVID-19 among healthcare professionals worldwide | Midwife/nurse-midwife n=257 (25% of total N) Total N=1060 maternal and newborn health professionals surveyed Nurse n=312 (29%) obstetrician/ gynaecologists n=223 (21%) neonatologist/ paediatrician n=73 (7%) Medical doctor (no specialisation) n=126 (12%) Other n=54 (5%) Convenience | Unknown Not specified by midwife in descriptive statistics | Telephone and video conferencing and text and instant messaging (WhatsApp) | Not specified by midwife in descriptive statistics, regarding type maternal and newborn care. Areas represented in thematic data include antenatal, postpartum, newborn care, abortion, childbirth preparation and labour triage |
| Gemperle et al29 Switzerland Nationwide | Quantitative Cross-sectional with content/thematic analysis | Online non-validated survey and open-ended questions | Descriptive statistics and χ2 test of independence, effect size with Cramer’s V, post hoc Bonferroni correction Integrative content analysis | To explore midwives’ perceptions of telemedicine during the COVID-19 pandemic in Switzerland and differences by age, professional experience and work setting | N=630 midwives, community and hospital based Convenience | Work solely in hospital or community or both | Telephone, instant messaging (eg, WhatsApp, online chat), text/short message service (eg, SMS), videoconference | Labour and delivery, and/or post partum |
| Henry et al†24 Australia, Sydney | Mixed methods Quantitative survey and qualitative Braun and Clark thematic analysis | Online non-validated survey and semi-structured interviews Data collected October 2020 to March 2021 | Descriptive statistics χ2 with subgroups: hospital of practice, type of professional, length of time working professionally Thematic analysis | To assess COVID-19 domestic and family violence and mental health screening and service provision from provider perspective and explore telehealth in antenatal care and future application of telehealth | Midwives n=75 (69% of total N) Interview n=17 interviews 10/17 midwives 3/17 obstetric medical staff 4/17 allied health workers (social work, physiotherapy and other) Convenience (survey) Purposive (interviews) | Three hospitals, maternity units | Telephone and videoconferencing | Antenatal and mental health screening |
| Rousseau et al31 France, all regions represented | Mixed methods Quantitative survey and qualitative grounded theory analysis | Online non-validated survey April 29 to 15 May 2020 Semi-structured interviews by Zoom May to July 2020 | Descriptive statistics and univariate and multivariate recession models Inductive content analysis | To measure and understand the determinants of the implementation of teleconsultations, and secondary is understand and measure for the determinants for its continued use | Independent midwives n=1491 (22 out of 1491 interviewed) Convenience (survey) Purposive (interviews) | Hospital, maternal welfare agencies, independent and group clinical practice, home | Telephone and video conferencing (Skype, Zoom, Facetime) and instant messaging (WhatsApp/ Messenger) and dedicated software (Doctolib, Prédis, Covaliaweb, etc) | QUANT: antenatal, post partum, early gynaecology, group and individual birth prep, family planning and psychological support QUAL: ante partum, post partum, early gyn follow-up, childbirth prep, post-abortion, group and individual |
*Contacted author for additional survey results for midwives, only published text results available. Relevant thematic analysis results that were exemplified by midwifery quotes with specific countries represented added to the review.
†Published survey results did not distinguish by provider type, contacted author who sent additional survey data for midwives. Relevant qualitative results that were exemplified by midwifery quotes were added to the review. Only published data was used for this review.