Table 5 Summary of content in the identified sub-themes in the second theme

Psychological distress and during migration

Legal and illegal migration routes involved fear and uncertainty among women [43, 45,46,47,48, 56, 59]

Women were reminded about dangers when witnessing the death of people [53]

Having to take responsibility of others during migration involved psychological distress [45, 51]

Women placed in refugee camps experienced the setting as: (i) unsafe associated with significant suffering [42, 43, 45, 55, 59]; and (ii) inhospitable environments lacking basic facilities and involving poor living conditions [38, 41, 42, 45, 55, 61]

Being forced to migrate involved feeling a loss of identity, difficulties accepting their identity, challenges when trying to adjust, and feeling grief or emptiness when missing and longing for their previous life and country of origin [43,44,45,46, 52, 56]

Being exposed to risks during pregnancy and childbirth

Pregnancy and childbirth involved a risk of violence, resulting in serious consequences [55]

Severe violence and risks when pregnant led to feeling unsafe and taking precautions [55]

Migration meant little possibilities to access adequate postpartum care [39, 51]

Migration led mothers to discontinue breastfeeding and had difficulties feeding children [39, 51]

Being exposed to violence and discrimination as a woman

Women were exposed to intensified violence in public and private settings [38,39,40, 45, 46, 50, 54, 55, 61, 62]

The regime, military, and civilians were perpetrators of violence against women [39, 40, 45]

Violence resulted in fear, panic, grief, feeling unsafe, and physical consequences [37, 54, 55]

Violence continued in refugee camps and during migration [45, 52, 53, 55, 56]

Women were often exposed to forced marriage [39, 50, 62] and intimate partner violence [39, 50, 55, 61, 62]

When their husband died, women faced dangers and reduced social possibilities [50, 51]

Women were at risk of sexualized violence, including repeated rape [39,40,41, 44,45,46, 53, 55, 57,58,59, 61]

When victims of sexual violence, women: (i) were often silenced, faced stigma, and experienced social exclusion [39, 40, 42, 44, 46, 55, 58]; and (ii) experienced limited possibilities to seek abortion and legal support [39]

To reduce their risk of sexualized violence, women were isolated from society [38, 39, 42, 55, 61]

Lack of social support

Insufficient social support were experienced from relatives [52] and organizations [38, 44, 46, 49, 56]

A lack of social support contributed to feeling alienated and isolated [42, 47]

Women experienced refugee camp staff as not having the necessary resources to offer support and that their actions at times are a threat to women’s safety [55]

Lack of adequate healthcare services

Women experienced challenges accessing healthcare during pregnancy and childbirth [45, 55]

Various structural barriers contributed to reduced access to healthcare services [55, 56]

Women experienced insufficient access to necessary medications [56, 61]

Women experienced disrespectful and unethical behavior among healthcare professionals [55]