This scoping review aimed to answer the following research questions:

1) What progress has been made in the literature on the impact of patient navigation on women’s health care for maternal health and noncancerous gynecologic conditions?

2) What are the characteristics of these patient navigation programs?

Within the domain of cancer care, the National Navigation Roundtable has defined patient navigation as “individualized assistance provided to patients, families, and caregivers to help overcome health care system barriers and facilitate timely access to quality health and psychosocial care, from pre-diagnosis through all phases of the cancer experience” [20]. However, the delivery of patient navigation services currently varies due to the absence of a universally accepted definition. Furthermore, in the literature, the terms “patient navigation,” “case management,” and “care coordination” are often used interchangeably. This is due to overlap in the services provided by these interventions, which include individual needs assessment, care coordination, and the provision of psychosocial support. To differentiate “patient navigation” from similar terms, it is defined for the purposes of this study as a service that addresses patients’ barriers to care on an individual basis. This involves a reactive approach, resolving a patient’s problems as they arise, rather than a proactive approach [3,21]. For instance, patient navigation services may also provide needs assessment, care coordination, or psychosocial support, similar to case management or care coordination programs. However, as long as the services were provided with the aim of resolving each patient’s barriers to care using an individualized and reactive approach, the program was defined as patient navigation.

Five electronic databases were searched: PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, CINAHL, and PsycInfo. There were no restrictions on the publication date or language of the studies during the initial search and the final search took place in July 2023. The primary search terms were “patient navigation,” “care coordination,” “case management,” “women’s health,” “women,” “maternal,” “obstetrics,” “gynecology,” “family planning,” “reproductive health,” and “infertility.” The specific search strategy used for each database can be found in Supplementary Table 1.

The inclusion criteria for this scoping review were studies that (1) included women who were older than 18 years, (2) conducted patient navigation programs to facilitate access to maternal and noncancerous gynecologic care services, (3) reported any quantitative or qualitative outcomes related to patient indices, and (4) were published in English. Studies were excluded if they: (1) focused solely on transgender women, homeless women, or women younger than 18 years of age; (2) delivered patient navigation programs across the continuum of breast cancer or gynecologic cancer care (including prevention, early detection or screening, diagnosis, treatment, and palliative care), substance abuse care, malaria care, or general chronic disease care (e.g., heart disease or diabetes); (3) conducted patient navigation programs that were not barrier-focused or individualized, did not adopt a reactive approach to patients’ barriers to care, or did not clearly state intervention descriptions; (4) reported effects of patient navigation outcomes only related to health care providers’ indices; (5) were intervention developmental studies, protocols, literature reviews, case reports, theses, commentaries, or conference abstracts, or (6) were not published in English.

To select the studies, the author initially retrieved pertinent studies from electronic databases, eliminated any duplicates using Endnote (Clarivate Analytics, Philadelphia, PA, USA) and screened the titles and abstracts to exclude any studies that did not meet the eligibility criteria. For the studies that remained, the author obtained the full texts to determine the final selection of included studies. Throughout the screening process, the author consulted a second reviewer whenever there was uncertainty about a study’s inclusion. The final 14 studies were included following consultation with this independent reviewer.

Data from the included studies were extracted and organized into a predetermined Excel table, which was developed by the author. The extracted data included the author, publication year, country where the study was conducted, study design, sample size, participants, women’s health care continuum, recruitment settings for women, types of services delivered by patient navigation interventions, patient navigator background, use of mobile health (mHealth), comparison, and patient-related outcomes. The author initially charted the data independently. If any data were not clearly reported in the study, the author emailed the corresponding author to ensure the accuracy of the information. Any uncertainties that arose during the data charting process were discussed with a second reviewer. An example of corroboration with the second reviewer was charting family planning separately from perinatal care within the women’s health care continuum.

The charted data were compiled and summarized in two tables (Tables 1 and 2) through a process of comparison and contrast of the extracted information. Initially, the author summarized the details of the selected studies (Table 2), and while closely adhering to the research questions, the author arranged the results according to specific themes (Table 1) that effectively represented the characteristics of the selected patient navigation studies. The process of compiling, summarizing, and reporting the results was iterative.

The results of study selection are presented in Figure 1. In total, 5,742 records were identified from the five electronic databases. After removing 2,160 duplicate records, 3,582 records underwent title and abstract screening. During this initial screening, 3,323 records were removed due to being case management studies or including women who were receiving cancer care. The remaining 259 studies underwent full-text screening. Of these, 122 studies were excluded, as they did not align with the patient navigation definition set for this scoping review. Thirty-one other studies were excluded because the patient navigation services delivered were not related to maternal or noncancerous gynecologic care. Of the remaining studies, 84 were not original interventional studies (protocols, literature reviews, case reports, theses, commentaries, and conference abstracts), five did not report the effects of patient navigation outcomes, and three were not published in English. Thus, 14 studies [22-35] were finally included.

A summary of the 14 studies included in this review is presented in Table 1. These studies were published between 2017 and 2022, with nearly half (n=6, 42.9%) published in 2021. The majority were conducted in the United States (n=11) [24-27,29-35], while two were conducted in Guatemala [22,23], and one in Kenya [28]. Most of these studies employed a prospective cohort study design, with five incorporating a historical control group [22,24,30,32,33]. Three studies assessed the effects of a patient navigation program within a single cohort [28,31,34]. The remaining studies varied in design, including randomized controlled trials (n=2) [27,29], pre- and post-studies (n=2) [25,35], a case-control study (n=1) [26], and a qualitative study (n=1) [23]. Only six were primary interventional studies [22,24,28-30,35]. The other eight were secondary studies or conducted a secondary analysis of data collected in their primary studies [23,25-27,31-34]. Of these eight secondary studies, seven [23,25,26,31-34] were secondary to three primary studies [22,24,30] included in this scoping review. The remaining study [27] was a secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial that has not yet been published.

The participants spanned the continuum from pregnancy to up to 15 months post-childbirth, and half of the studies focused on perinatal women (n=7) [22-26,28,29]. Three of these seven studies also involved the women’s partners or infants [24-26]. The remaining studies focused on women after childbirth—specifically, postpartum women (n=6) [27,30-34] and women with infants aged between 1 to 15 months (n=1) [35] (Table 1).

Each study included in this review specifically focused on women or families with unique socioeconomic and obstetric statuses. The majority of these studies involved participants with low incomes (n=8) [24-26,30-34], followed by those from ethnic minority groups (n=4) [22,23,29,35]. One of the remaining studies focused on women living on islands far removed from well-equipped mainland medical centers [28], while another study included women who had an unplanned cesarean section during delivery [27] (Table 1).

The settings for participant recruitment varied across the studies. Most studies targeted individuals visiting women’s health hospitals or clinics (n=8) [27-34]. Five other studies focused on women or families in communities that favored home births, or those attending community health centers for prenatal care [22-26]. One study recruited participants from a pediatric setting—specifically, mothers attending their infants’ well-child visits [35] (Table 1).

Seven of the studies included in this review were secondary studies [23,25,26,31-34] of three primary studies [22,24,30]; thus, a total of seven unique patient navigation programs were examined [22,24,27-30,35]. These programs were designed to address individual barriers and facilitate women’s access to either perinatal care services (n=13) [22-34] or family planning services (n=1) [35]. The majority of the studies implemented the patient navigation program as the sole component of the intervention (n=8) [27,28,30-35], while the remaining studies incorporated the patient navigation program alongside other interventions (n=6) [22-26,29]. These additional interventions included mHealth support programs, health coaching, and behavioral incentives (Table 2). The individuals delivering the patient navigation services, referred to as navigators, varied across the studies. They included lay navigators (i.e., volunteer community members who were trained to work as patient navigators) (n=7) [22,23,30-34], community health workers (n=2) [28,35], and registered nurses (n=1) [27]. Out of the 10 studies that reported on the navigators’ backgrounds, nine employed women [22,23,27,30-35]. The majority of the studies (n=11) utilized mHealth technologies, such as text messages or smartphone apps, to deliver some aspects of the patient navigation services. These services included providing educational materials, scheduling appointments, and offering psychosocial support [22-27,30-34].

The patient navigation services provided could be categorized into eight common types (Table 1). All 14 studies involved coordination or linkage of women and families to relevant clinical or social services related to maternity care. These services included neonatal or mental health care, public transportation, childcare assistance programs, and financial support services. The majority of patient navigation services also provided educational information on health-related topics (n=11; e.g., breastfeeding, infant care, safe births, and methods of contraception) [24-26,28-35], as well as emotional or psychosocial support (n=11) [24-27,29-35]. This support often involved addressing questions or providing reassurance for any concerns that arose. All patient navigation programs included in this scoping review offered services on an individual basis.

Although not shown in Table 1, the types of patient navigation services slightly differed among the countries where they were delivered. In Guatemala [22,23] and Kenya [28], the navigation services involved evaluating individual barriers and needs in accessing care services [22,23], accompanying women to hospital visits [22,23,28], coordinating maternal services with other relevant clinical or social services [22,23,28], and providing health education [28]. However, in the United States [24-27,29-35], all eight common types of patient navigation services identified in Table 1 (types of services delivered) were provided.

Each study included in this analysis reported its outcomes using either quantitative or qualitative data, or a combination of both. The majority of the studies relied solely on quantitative data (n=10) [22,24-26,28-30,32,33,35]. Three studies, however, presented both quantitative and qualitative data [27,31,34]. Only one study [23] exclusively presented a qualitative analysis.

The outcomes could be classified into several categories (Table 1). The most frequently reported outcome category in quantitative studies was the completion rates of care services or referred services (n=7) [22,25,26,29,30,33,35], which included attending prenatal or postpartum visits, receiving perinatal care services (e.g., screening for postpartum depression, glucose tolerance tests, or influenza vaccination), or using preferred contraception methods. Only two studies reported waiting times were reported [22,28]. Two studies also reported patient satisfaction with navigation services, measured quantitatively [27,31]. Health-related patient outcome indices (physical health [24,26,29,32], mental health [25], healthy behavior changes [25,29,30]), such as women’s weight gain, birth outcomes, anxiety, or initiation of breastfeeding, were reported in six studies. The most commonly reported qualitative outcomes were participants’ positive perceptions of the patient navigation services they received (n=3) [23,27,31].

The 14 patient navigation studies encompassed seven different patient navigation programs, all conducted for women during the perinatal period and up to 15 months post-childbirth. These programs were designed to facilitate access to either perinatal care or family planning services. Although this study also aimed to include participants with noncancerous gynecological issues, no such patient navigation programs were found. The range of publication years suggests that patient navigation programs have been relatively recently introduced into the maternity care setting. This is in contrast to the findings of a systematic review [36] that examined care coordination programs conducted in maternity care settings since the late 1980s. This review found that the majority of the studies were observational and conducted in the United States, which may have been due to the fact that patient navigation programs first emerged in the United States. More than half of the studies reported the impact of patient navigation outcomes through a secondary analysis of the data collected in their primary studies, and most reported outcomes using quantitative data.

The patient navigation programs included in this study primarily targeted socially disadvantaged women and families, aiming to facilitate their access to perinatal care or family planning services. Given that many previous patient navigation programs have been implemented to eliminate health disparities [37], conducting such programs in maternity care settings could potentially increase social equity. Notably, a study specifically targeted Latina mothers in a pediatric care setting to provide contraceptive care [35]. Mothers, who are typically the primary caregivers for their children, frequently visit pediatric care facilities for well-child visits, but not maternal health facilities after childbirth. This provides an opportunity for pediatric health providers to reach mothers to provide contraceptive care for birth spacing. Our study’s findings suggest a need for close collaboration between maternal and pediatric care providers. Patient navigation services could be instrumental in bridging these two specialty areas to promote contraceptive care.

The majority of patient navigation programs conducted in maternity care settings involved the use of mHealth technologies, reflecting the recognition that information and communication technologies are potentially cost-effective means of delivering efficient, person-centered care [38]. The use of advanced technologies enables patients to connect with health care providers from the comfort of their homes, thereby increasing their access to care and promoting communication between interdisciplinary health care providers. Researchers and health care professionals planning to implement patient navigation services in maternity care settings might consider using mHealth applications.

The patient navigation services provided were similar to those previously implemented in other health care settings [3,39], yet with different health topics. The most frequently identified service in this scoping review was the integration of maternal care services with other clinical (e.g., neonatal or mental health care) and social support services (e.g., public transportation, childcare assistance programs, and financial support services). The findings of this study suggest other possible clinical and social support services that can collaborate with maternity care services. The application of patient navigation in a postpartum care setting could prove beneficial. The postpartum period is a time of transition for women, both relative to their pre-pregnancy state and parenthood. However, these developmental transitions are often overlooked by health professionals in real-world clinical settings. To address this, the ACOG [8] recently urged health professionals to increase the frequency of postpartum visits and improve the quality of discussions during these encounters. The ACOG also highlighted the need for care coordinators within a postpartum care team who could link postpartum women and their families to the multiple clinical and social services they need. In this scoping review, two of the included patient navigation programs [27,30] focused on postpartum women, either to boost postpartum visit attendance [30] or to address common postpartum concerns (e.g., breastfeeding, infection, pain, postpartum depression, sleep, fatigue, or infant care) that are often neglected during routine postpartum visits. In light of the findings of this scoping review, the application of patient navigation programs in postpartum care settings could be beneficial for addressing the needs of many women following childbirth.

A notable finding regarding types of patient navigation services was the presence of slight differences in types of services among countries. In Guatemala and Kenya, the services were mainly focused and limited to increasing access to care by arranging emergency transportation and providing educational information about safe births. However, in addition to these services, the patient navigation programs in the United States arranged neonatal or mental health care along with childcare assistance services, coordinated or provided follow-up on clinical appointments, and offered psychosocial support. According to the World Health Organization [40], over 99% of global maternal deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries. These statistical data clearly explain the differences in the types of navigation services delivered between Guatemala and Kenya (upper and lower-middle income countries according to the World Bank) versus the United States (high-income country in the World Bank classification). Therefore, patient navigation services should be delivered carefully considering the existing maternal issues within the countries.

The primary focus of researchers was to measure the influence of patient navigation programs on the completion rates of provided care services. McKenney et al. [17] proposed a set of outcome measures that could be used to assess the impact of patient navigation services in maternal care settings. However, only two studies actually evaluated waiting times until the use of appropriate care. A significant number of the included studies were designed to measure the effects of patient navigation on patient health outcomes (physical or mental health, or changes in health behavior) in conjunction with completion rates of appropriate care services. Despite the set of outcome measures suggested by McKenney et al. [17], a more robust core set of outcomes that can be measured in maternity care settings may be necessary.

Despite being the first study to review patient navigation programs in women’s care, a limitation of this study is that it did not include the gray literature. Although this aligns with the author’s intention to identify studies that have fully and accurately reported their methods and outcomes, as noted in one of the selected studies in this scoping review [27], there may be additional ongoing patient navigation studies for women with maternal or noncancerous gynecologic health issues. Therefore, it is recommended that future reviews include the gray literature.

The findings of this scoping review offer valuable information for both nursing practitioners and researchers. For practitioners, this study presents a framework for creating new patient navigation programs in maternity care settings. For example, patient navigation programs could be delivered within perinatal or postpartum care settings in collaboration with other clinical (neonatal or mental health care) or social support services (child assistance, transportation, or financial support programs), provide educational or psychosocial support for women and families, or encourage postpartum visits. Additionally, in family planning care settings, patient navigation programs could provide contraceptive care to hard-to-reach mothers by integrating maternal and pediatric care providers. Furthermore, since no patient navigation programs were identified for women with noncancerous gynecologic issues, practitioners might contemplate implementing a patient navigation program for these women.

This scoping review provides information on baseline outcomes for patient navigation studies conducted in the field of maternity care. However, synthesizing the evidence of the effects of patient navigation programs on maternal health through a systematic review may not yield high-quality evidence due to the scarcity of studies employing rigorous study designs. To validate the effects of patient navigation on maternal health, researchers should first conduct primary studies using robust study designs.

This scoping review presents information on the characteristics of patient navigation programs implemented in maternity care. The findings suggest that patient navigation services have not been as widely applied in maternal health as they have in other health care settings. However, the introduction of patient navigation services in maternal health could potentially reduce health disparities among socially disadvantaged women and families and improve the quality of postpartum care. This study, in conjunction with previous research, suggests a potential role for patient navigators in maternity care settings, and the application of patient navigation services could benefit many women by offering care tailored to their specific needs.