Strengthening open disclosure after incidents in maternity care: a realist synthesis of international research evidence (March 2023)

Summary

Published in BMC Health Services Research, this is the first review to theorise how open disclosure (OD) works, for whom, in what circumstances, and why.

Authors identify and examine from the secondary data the five key mechanisms for successful OD and the three contextual factors that influence this. The next study stage will use interview and ethnographic data to test, deepen, or overturn their five hypothesised programme theories to explain what is required to strengthen OD in maternity services.