Table 2. Characteristics of included studies.
| Author | Title | Country | ACS | Tocolytics | MgSO4 | Antibiotics | Designs | Sample size | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tucker Edmonds 2015 [41] | The influence of resuscitation preferences on obstetrical management of periviable deliveries | United States of America | ☑ | Survey | 295 | Obstetrician gynaecologists | |||
| Vargas-Origel 2000 [55] | ACS. Its use and the obstetrician attitudes. | Mexico | ☑ | ☑ | Prospective observational with survey | 48 | Obstetricians | ||
| Buchanan 2004 [57] | Preterm prelabour rupture of the membranes: a survey of current practice | Australia | ☑ | ☑ | Questionnaire | 731 | Obstetricians | ||
| Bousleiman 2015 [42] | Use and attitudes of obstetricians toward 3 high-risk interventions in MFMU Network hospitals | United States of America | ☑ | ☑ | Survey | 329 | Obstetricians | ||
| Battarbee 2020 [43] | Management of diabetic women with threatened preterm birth: a survey of Maternal-Fetal Medicine providers | United States of America | ☑ | Survey | 159 | MFM providers | |||
| Chan 2006 [69] | Staff views on the management of the extremely preterm infant | United Kingdom | ☑ | Questionnaire | 69 | Obstetricians, neonatologists, midwives, and neonatal nurses | |||
| Capeless 1987 [44] | Management of preterm premature rupture of membranes: lack of a national consensus | United States of America and Canada | ☑ | ☑ | Questionnaire | 285 | Obstetricians | ||
| Bain 2013 [58] | Implementation of a clinical practice guideline for antenatal magnesium sulphate for neuroprotection in Australia and New Zealand | Australia and New Zealand | ☑ | Survey | 25 | Obstetricians, trainee medical officers, midwives | |||
| Aghajafari 2002 [52] | Multiple versus single courses of ACS for preterm birth: a pilot study | Canada | ☑ | Randomised controlled trial with questionnaire | 12 | Women | |||
| Hueston 1997 [45] | Variations between family physicians and obstetricians in the evaluation and treatment of preterm labour | United States of America | ☑ | Questionnaire | 321 | Obstetrician gynaecologists and family physicians | |||
| Smith 2011 [73] | Practices for predicting and preventing preterm birth in Ireland: a national survey | Ireland | ☑ | ☑ | ☑ | Questionnaire | 66 | Obstetrician gynaecologists | |
| Battarbee 2019 [46] | Practice Variation in Antenatal Steroid Administration for Anticipated Late Preterm Birth: A Physician Survey | United States of America | ☑ | ☑ | Survey | 193 | Obstetricians | ||
| Danerek 2012 [74] | Attitudes of Swedish midwives towards management of extremely preterm labour and birth | Sweden | ☑ | Questionnaire | 259 | Midwives | |||
| Hutton 1989 [64] | New Zealand obstetricians’ management of hypertension in pregnancy. A questionnaire survey | New Zealand | ☑ | Questionnaire | 65 | Obstetricians | |||
| Erickson 2001 [47] | Obstetrician-gynaecologists’ knowledge and training about ACS | United States of America | ☑ | Questionnaire | 487 | Obstetricians | |||
| Cook 2004 [59] | Survey of the management of preterm labour in Australia and New Zealand in 2002 | Australia and New Zealand | ☑ | ☑ | Questionnaire | 813 | Obstetrician gynaecologists | ||
| Gatman 2020 [60] | Survey on use of antenatal magnesium sulphate for fetal neuroprotection prior to preterm birth in Australia and New Zealand: Ongoing barriers and enablers | Australia and New Zealand | ☑ | Questionnaire | 24 | Obstetrician, midwives, neonatologists | |||
| Glass 2005 [48] | Opportunities to reduce overuse of antibiotics for perinatal group B streptococcal disease prevention and management of preterm premature rupture of membranes | United States of America | ☑ | Questionnaire | 519 | Obstetrician gynaecologists | |||
| Chollat 2017 [75] | Antenatal magnesium sulphate administration for fetal neuroprotection: a French national survey | France | ☑ | Online and phone survey | 138 | Obstetricians, anaesthetists, neonatologists | |||
| Aleman 2013 [56] | Use of ACS for preterm birth in Latin America: providers knowledge, attitudes, and practices | Ecuador, El Salvador, Mexico and Uruguay | ☑ | Questionnaire | 353 | Physicians, midwives, nurse, in some cases medical students | |||
| Baker 2015 [53] | Current practices in the prediction and prevention of preterm birth in patients with higher-order multiple gestations | Canada | ☑ | ☑ | Survey | 81 | MFM specialists | ||
| Saengwaree 2005 [77] | Changing physician’s practice on ACS in preterm birth | Thailand | ☑ | Medical records review and questionnaire | 39 (questionnaire only) | Obstetricians | |||
| Wilson 2002 [70] | The Leeds University Maternity Audit Project | United Kingdom | ☑ | ☑ | Case note audit and interview | 88 taped interviews | Obstetricians, unit manager, paediatrician, midwife | ||
| Hong 2017 [65] | Resident Quality Improvement Project: Antenatal Magnesium Sulfate Protocol for Fetal Neuroprotection in Preterm Births | Singapore | ☑ | ☑ | Prospective study with audit and survey | 42 | Staff members of the hospital | ||
| Hui 2007 [54] | Preterm Labour and Birth: A Survey of Clinical Practice Regarding Use of Tocolytics, ACS, and Progesterone | Canada | ☑ | Survey | 2,821 | Obstetricians | |||
| Kenyon 2010 [71] | Has publication of the results of the ORACLE Children Study changed practice in the UK? | United Kingdom | ☑ | Questionnaire | 324 | Obstetricians | |||
| McGoldrick 2017 [61] | Investigating antenatal corticosteroid clinical guideline practice at an organisational level | Australia and New Zealand | ☑ | Questionnaire | 40 | Clinical managers at 27 secondary and 25 tertiary maternity hospitals | |||
| TuckerEdmonds 2015 [50] | A national survey of obstetricians’ attitudes toward and practice of periviable intervention | United States of America | ☑ | Questionnaire | 310 | Obstetrician gynaecologists, MFM specialists | |||
| Rousseau 2020 [76] | Do obstetricians apply the national guidelines? A vignette-based study assessing practices for the prevention of preterm birth | France | ☑ | Survey (structured and open-ended questions) | 423 | Obstetricians | |||
| Tucker Edmonds 2015 [49] | Comparing obstetricians’ and neonatologists’ approaches to periviable counselling | United States of America | ☑ | Exploratory simulation study | 31 | Obstetricians and neonatologists | |||
| Liu 2015 [22] | ACS for management of preterm birth: a multi-country analysis of health system bottlenecks and potential solutions | Afghanistan, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Uganda, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Vietnam | ☑ | Maternal-newborn bottleneck analysis through workshop and survey | Not specified | Health providers and policymakers | |||
| Kankaria 2021 [78] | Readiness to Provide Antenatal Corticosteroids for Threatened Preterm Birth in Public Health Facilities in Northern India | India | ☑ | ☑ | Cross-sectional through facility assessment, semistructured questionnaire, report summary | 107 | Health providers and women | ||
| McGoldrick 2016 [62] | Consumers attitudes and beliefs towards the receipt of ACS and use of clinical practice guidelines | Australia and New Zealand | ☑ | Qualitative interviews and open-ended questionnaire | 24 | Women | |||
| Hsieh 2006 [67] | The lived experience of first-time expectant fathers whose spouses are tocolyzed in hospital | Taiwan | ☑ | Qualitative interviews | 6 | Partners of women | |||
| Greensides 2018 [79] | ACS for women at risk of imminent preterm birth in 7 sub-Saharan African countries: a policy and implementation landscape analysis | Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Malawi, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, and Uganda | ☑ | Document reviews and qualitative interviews | 12 | Senior-level ministry of health representative, and organisations working closely with Ministry of Health | |||
| Bain 2015 [23] | Barriers and enablers to implementing antenatal magnesium sulphate for fetal neuroprotection guidelines: a study using the theoretical domains framework | Australia | Qualitative interviews | 45 | Obstetricians, midwives, neonatologists | ||||
| Antony 2019 [80] | Qualitative assessment of knowledge transfer regarding preterm birth in Malawi following the implementation of targeted health messages over 3 years | Malawi | ☑ | Focus group discussions | 70 | Nurse midwives, CHWs, nurses, matrons, clinic land medical officers, medical and dental assistants, health surveillance assistants | |||
| Kaplan 2016 [40] | Reliable implementation of evidence: a qualitative study of antenatal corticosteroid administration in Ohio hospitals | United States of America | ☑ | ☑ | Focus group discussions, qualitative interviews | 97 | Obstetricians, physician trainees, nurse midwives, nurses | ||
| Levison 2014 [81] | Qualitative assessment of attitudes and knowledge on preterm birth in Malawi and within country framework of care | Malawi | ☑ | Focus group discussions, incidence narrative, qualitative interviews | 33 participants on focus groups, unclear how many were interviewed | Women, partners, community health workers, nurse midwife/matrons, clinical officers (physician) | |||
| Leviton 1995 [24] | An exploration of opinion and practice patterns affecting low use of ACS | United States of America | ☑ | ☑ | Qualitative interviews and focus group discussions | 8 interview participants; 4 focus groups (total not stated but 8–15 participants on each group) | Obstetricians and neonatologists | ||
| McGoldrick 2016 [63] | Identifying the barriers and enablers in the implementation of the New Zealand and Australian Antenatal Corticosteroid Clinical Practice Guidelines | Australia and New Zealand | ☑ | Qualitative interviews or open-ended questionnaire | 73 | Obstetricians, midwives, neonatologists, paediatricians | |||
| Hu 2006 [66] | Study of stress and coping behaviours in families of hospitalized pregnant woman undergoing tocolysis | Taiwan | ☑ | Qualitative interviews | Unclear | Women’s partners | |||
| Kalb 1993 [51] | Women’s experiences using terbutaline pump therapy for the management of preterm labour | United States of America | ☑ | ☑ | Qualitative interviews | 12 | Women | ||
| Smith 2016 [68] | Providing ACS for preterm birth: a quality improvement initiative in Cambodia and the Philippines | Cambodia and Philippines | ☑ | Pre- and post-intervention design with monthly audit and feedback sessions (written data) | Not specified | Maternity care staffs that participate in audit process | |||
| Burhouse 2017 [72] | Preventing cerebral palsy in preterm labour: a multiorganisational quality improvement approach to the adoption and spread of magnesium sulphate for neuroprotection | United Kingdom | ☑ | Quality improvement study with qualitative evaluation (focus groups, surveys, quantitative data capture) | Not specified | Medical staffs: only midwives mentioned | |||
| Teela 2015 [82] | Magnesium sulphate for fetal neuroprotection: benefits and challenges of a systematic knowledge translation project in Canada | Canada | ☑ | Focus group discussions, site visits, survey | 188 survey respondents | Physicians, nurses, midwives, residents, students, pharmacist, administrators |
CHW, community health worker; MFM, maternal-fetal medicine.