Lowe Samantha M P, Moore Spencer
School of Kinesiology& Health Studies, Queen's University, Kingston K7L 3 N6, ON, Canada.
Reprod Health. 2014 Dec 10;11:85. doi: 10.1186/1742-4755-11-85.
Continuing high global maternal mortality and morbidity rates in developing countries have resulted in an increasing push to improve reproductive health services for women. Seeking innovative ways for assessing how positive health knowledge and behaviors spread to this vulnerable population has increased the use of social network theories and analysis in health promotion research. Despite the increased research on social networks and health, no overarching review on social networks and maternal health literature in developing countries has been conducted. This paper attempts to synthesize this literature by identifying both published and unpublished studies in major databases on social networks and maternal and child health. This review examined a range of study types for inclusion, including experimental and non-experimental study designs including randomized controlled trials, non-randomized controlled trials, quasi-experimental, cohort studies, case control studies, longitudinal studies, and cross-sectional observational studies. Only those that occurred in developing countries were included in the review. Eighteen eligible articles were identified; these were published between 1997 and 2012. The findings indicated that the most common social network mechanisms studied within the literature were social learning and social influence. The main outcomes studied were contraceptive use and fertility decisions. Findings suggest the need for continuing research on social networks and maternal health, particularly through the examination of the range of social mechanisms through which networks may influence health behaviors and knowledge, and the analysis of a larger variety of reproductive outcomes.
发展中国家居高不下的全球孕产妇死亡率和发病率促使人们加大力度改善妇女的生殖健康服务。寻求创新方法来评估积极的健康知识和行为如何传播到这一弱势群体，这使得社会网络理论和分析在健康促进研究中的应用日益增加。尽管对社会网络与健康的研究有所增加，但尚未对发展中国家社会网络与孕产妇健康文献进行全面综述。本文试图通过在主要数据库中识别关于社会网络与母婴健康的已发表和未发表研究来综合这一文献。本综述考察了一系列纳入的研究类型，包括实验性和非实验性研究设计，如随机对照试验、非随机对照试验、准实验、队列研究、病例对照研究、纵向研究和横断面观察研究。只有那些发生在发展中国家的研究才被纳入综述。共识别出18篇符合条件的文章；这些文章发表于1997年至2012年之间。研究结果表明，文献中研究最常见的社会网络机制是社会学习和社会影响。所研究的主要结果是避孕措施的使用和生育决策。研究结果表明需要继续开展关于社会网络与孕产妇健康的研究，特别是通过考察网络可能影响健康行为和知识的各种社会机制，以及分析更多样化的生殖结果。
