Maternal and Perinatal Wellbeing Scoping Review v1

Ending preventable maternal, newborn, and child deaths, and improving the overall maternal and perinatal health and wellbeing is a top priority of the World Health Organisation (WHO) in the years to come. The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines health as a ‘state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity’. In the context of maternal and perinatal health, the concept of wellbeing still remains poorly defined. Defining wellbeing is complex and challenging, particularly in the inherent changes as part of the transition to motherhood. There are differing definitions, models, and theories of wellbeing. The wellbeing literature is generally classified into concepts of objective wellbeing (quality of life indicators [income, food housing], social attributes [education, health, political voice, social networks, and connections]) and subjective wellbeing (evaluative wellbeing, hedonic wellbeing, and eudemonic wellbeing). Recent work on adolescent wellbeing, adult wellbeing (AWB), and women’s wellbeing (WWB) has highlighted that a comprehensive conceptualisation of maternal wellbeing (MWB)/perinatal wellbeing (PWB) is lacking at present. Further research is needed to clearly define the concept and domains of MWB/PWB in order to work towards enhancing health for women and children in the perinatal period.