Facilitators and barriers to recruiting pregnant people with anxiety and depression for a group-based intervention: a mixed methods systematic review protocol

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: This review aims to identify the facilitators and barriers to recruiting pregnant people with anxiety/depression into group-based intervention studies designed to support their mental health. INTRODUCTION: Recruiting pregnant people, particularly those with anxiety/depression, for research studies is crucial for developing effective mental health interventions; however, this remains a significant challenge. There is a lack of focused evidence on the specific facilitators and barriers to recruiting participants for perinatal mental health studies. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA: This review will include studies on pregnant people with anxiety/depression focusing on the facilitators and barriers to recruiting participants for group-based programs designed to support their mental health. METHODS: The review will be conducted in accordance with the JBI methodology for mixed methods systematic reviews and will be reported following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. We will systematically search PubMed, Embase, CINAHL (EBSCOhost), Scopus, PsycINFO (Ovid), and ScienceDirect. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses (ProQuest) and Google Scholar will be searched for grayliterature. The references of the relevant articles will be manually searched to identify additional studies. Identified studies will be independently assessed for inclusion by 2 reviewers. Independent double extraction of study characteristics and critical appraisal items will be conducted using standardized tools. Quantitative and qualitative data will be summarized in narrative and tabular format, and synthesized using a convergent integrated approach, in which quantitative data will be transformed to support the synthesis of narrative findings. Consistency will be verified by 2 reviewers, with any discrepancies resolved through discussion. REVIEW REGISTRATION: PROSPERO CRD42025635015.