Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Research Protocols
Date Submitted: Oct 6, 2025
Open Peer Review Period: Oct 28, 2025 - Dec 23, 2025
Date Accepted: May 31, 2026
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
From Fear to Informed: A Scoping Review Protocol of Educational Interventions for Labor Epidural Awareness
ABSTRACT
Background:
Labor pain is among the most intense forms of pain, and neuraxial anesthesia including epidural, spinal, and combined spinal-epidural techniques is considered the gold standard for its management. Despite its effectiveness, persistent misconceptions, cultural barriers, and disparities in awareness contribute to underutilization among certain populations. Educational interventions have been developed to address these gaps, yet a comprehensive synthesis of such efforts within the United States is lacking.
Objective:
This scoping review aims to map the extent, range, and nature of educational interventions designed to improve knowledge, awareness, and acceptance of neuraxial anesthesia during labor among pregnant women.
Methods:
Following the PRISMA-ScR framework, peer-reviewed studies published in English were identified through PubMed, Embase, and Scopus up to August 2025. Eligible studies included pregnant women eligible for neuraxial anesthesia, with interventions delivered during prenatal or perinatal care. Extracted data included study design, intervention type, delivery method, timing, and outcomes related to knowledge acquisition, awareness, acceptance, satisfaction, and uptake. Data will be summarized descriptively, supported by tables, charts, and narrative synthesis.
Results:
Findings are expected to demonstrate that culturally sensitive, multimodal interventions particularly when delivered prenatally enhance knowledge retention, reduce anxiety, and increase epidural uptake, especially in historically underserved populations. Digital interventions such as mobile apps and videos are emerging, though accessibility remains a challenge. Gaps in long-term outcome data and limited attention to diverse racial and rural populations are anticipated.
Conclusions:
This review will inform the development of standardized, scalable, and culturally relevant educational strategies to promote informed decision-making, patient autonomy, and equitable access to neuraxial labor analgesia.
Citation
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Copyright
© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.