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Table 1 Study characteristics (N = 17)

From: Maternity protection entitlements for non-standard workers in low-and-middle-income countries and potential implications for breastfeeding practices: a scoping review of research since 2000

Author, year of publication

Country of origin

Study design

Component/s of maternity protection

Category of non-standard worker

Betancourt, et al. 2013. [28]

India

Qualitative case study (used IDIs & FGDs)

Breastfeeding breaks

Construction workers, including migrant workers

Brahic & Jacobs. 2013. [29]

Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda

Action research, mixed methods – structured quantitative questionnaire & IDIs

Health protection at work

Maternity leave

Job security

Breastfeeding breaks

Horticultural farm workers

Nair, et al. 2014. [30]

India

Qualitative: FGDs

Cash benefits

Childcare

Women enrolled in the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) – agricultural workers

Alfers. 2016. [31]

Brazil, Ghana, India, South Africa, Thailand

Cross-sectional, qualitative (FGDs)

Childcare

Women informal workers – sampled from associations for waste pickers, street traders (informal vendors), and home-based workers which dominated the sample, but also included domestic workers and agricultural workers

Diji, et al. 2017. [32]

Ghana

Descriptive, cross-sectional: structured, quantitative questionnaire

Maternity leave

Self-employed

Kabir & Maitrot. 2017. [33]

Bangladesh

Qualitative – IDIs and FGDs

Childcare

Women living in ‘slums’ (mostly low-paying, informal jobs)

Ghosh & Kochar. 2018. [34]

India

‘Differences in differences’ approach. Questionnaire and anthropometry (weight, height)

Income support to rural pregnant women—Indira

Gandhi Matritya Sahayog Yojana (IGMSY)

Women employed in home production or in the informal economy

Stumbitz, et al. 2018. [35]

Ghana

Qualitative exploratory case study: document review; IDIs

Comprehensive maternity protection

Informal economy defined enterprises that are small, unregistered private unincorporated businesses that do not provide written employment contracts

Chen, et al. 2019. [36]

China

Cross-sectional, mixed methods – quant questionnaire & qual semi-structure interviews

Breastfeeding breaks

Maternity leave

Childcare

Formal vs. informal in different occupational fields (agriculture, industry, business and white collar)

Gupta, et al. 2019. [37]

84 countries, 69 /84 (82%) LMIC

WBTi assessment of 10 indicators at country level

Comprehensive maternity protection

Women working in the informal or unorganised sector

Horwood, et al. 2019 [38]

South Africa*

Descriptive and cross-sectional, quantitative survey

Childcare

Informal traders and domestic workers

Horwood, et al. 2020. [39]

India and South Africa*

Qualitative – FGDs

Breastfeeding breaks, childcare

Domestic workers, market traders and home-based workers

Kumeh, et al. 2020. [40]

Liberia

Mixed methods: Sequential explanatory, case–control design – quant survey and qual IDIs

Social protection (income support) and maternity support

Mothers attending school or vocational training, informal work or piecemeal work, subsistence agriculture

Luthuli, et al. 2020 [41]

South Africa*

Longitudinal mixed-methods study – quantitative questionnaire and IDIs at 3 time points

Maternity leave

Breastfeeding breaks

Childcare

Domestic work, home-based work, informal trading, and hairdressing

Nabunya, et al. 2020. [42]

Uganda

Community-based cross-sectional survey: semi-structured (quant) questionnaire

Maternity leave

Breastfeeding breaks

Childcare

Women working in general shops, food shops/restaurants, furniture shops, small scale salons and markets

Horwood, et al. 2021. [43]

South Africa*

Mixed methods longitudinal cohort study – quant structured questionnaire, IDIs & group photovoice

Childcare

Various including domestic workers (6), hairdressers (5), home-based workers (4), informal vendors (1), fuel attendant (1) and informal tuck shop owner (1)

Kumar. 2021. [44]

India

Review

Health protection

Tobacco cultivation / harvesting (farmers) – ‘casual’ work relationships

  1. IDI In-depth interview, FGD Focus group discussion
  2. * The four publications from South Africa reported different sets of results from research conducted under the same umbrella project