Background and purpose: With the increasing use of medical technologies, questions arise about the benefits and risks of these technologies for mothers and newborns. This study aims to identify and map the existing literature to examine the outcomes and performance of medicalization during pregnancy and childbirth in order to adopt the best strategies to improve health care and make better decisions about the use of medicalization technologies in pregnancy and childbirth.
Materials and methods: This scoping review was conducted in five stages: formulating the research question, searching for and extracting relevant studies, selecting studies, organizing data, and reporting the results. A search was conducted to collect data in databases, SID, WOS, PubMed, Scopus, and the Google Scholar search engine, using relevant English and Persian keywords.
Results: After searching the databases, a total of 15 relevant articles were selected and reviewed. The findings were organized into six categories: safety, inequity in access, women’s autonomy, psychological issues, medicalization of natural childbirth, and costs of medical interventions.
Conclusion: According to the results of the reviewed studies, medicalization interventions have significantly contributed to reducing maternal and neonatal mortality. However, the findings indicate that not all pregnant women have equal access to medicalization services, and unnecessary medicalization impose a financial burden on the healthcare system. Therefore, it is recommended to implement measures ensuring that medicalization services are provided only when necessary, avoiding the routine use of these interventions for all pregnant women.