Protocol for a scoping review of the evidence concerning the unique needs and experiences of Orthodox Jewish women and their partners using maternity services in the UK

BackgroundOrthodox Jews follow the Jewish law, Halacha, that determines most daily activities and behaviours. Halacha restrictions and insular lifestyle of groups within the Orthodox community, led to cultural barriers when interacting with NHS maternity services in the UK. Aims and objectivesthis protocol describes a scoping review that will aim to explore the needs of Orthodox Jews when interacting with maternity services, their experiences in the UK, to what extend has this topic been studied, and identify any gaps that need further research. Rationalethe literature on this topic is scarce. There is an urgent need to understand the unique needs of these communities in order to make NHS maternity services accessible to all. Methodsthe scoping review will follow Arksey and OMalleys framework for scoping reviews. We will utilise a broad search strategy that will include terms such as Orthodox Jewish, Haredi, Halacha, Needs, Experiences and Maternity Services. We will search the grey literature and databases such as OpenGrey, PubMed, Web of Science, CINHAL, SocINDEX and ProQuest. The search will be an iterative process that will be led by the search itself and the PPI work done in parallel. Inclusion criteriausing the terms above, we will include English papers from all OECD courtiers, applying no restrictions on publication year. Expected outcomesmapping the literature will allow a better understanding of the needs and experiences of the Orthodox community when interacting with NHS maternity services in the UK and will lead the next stage of the project that aims to make these services more culturally sensitive. This project is part of the main authors NIHR (National Institute for Health and care Research) fellowship.