Reviewer ’s report  
 
Title: Perspectives of pregnant and postpartum women and obstetr ic providers to promote 
healthy lifestyle in pregnancy and after delivery: A qualitative in -depth interview study  
 
Version: 0 Date: 19 Aug 2019  
 
Reviewer: Kristina Edvardsson  
 
Reviewer's report:  
 
Dear Editor,  
 
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to review this interesting paper. The paper is well 
written and structured, and the topic is relevant.  
 
 
Please find my comments and questions b elow.  
 
Abstract:  
 
Please include setting (country) and year of data collection.  
 
Information about the number of participants is not clear. Were there 23 interviews in total? 
Please state the number of interviews with pregnant and postpartum patients (it is stated that 11 
interviews were with obstetric providers).  
 
 
Methods:  
 
The methods section lacks detail about the recruitment procedure. How were the women 
approached, and what information were they given (written or verbal)?  
 
How many women were approached  and how many declined participation?  
 
How many obstetric providers were approached and how many declined/did not respond? Were 
there any limitations that should be addressed in relation to recruitment? (i.e. if the response rate 
was low)  
 
What was the duration of interviews? (mean and range for patients and providers, respectively)  
 
Some more detail about the questions asked during interviews would be of value (patients and 
providers).  
 
What determined the number of participants recruited f or this study? Did data collection 
continue until data saturation was achieved, and if so, how was data saturation assessed?  
Results:  
 
It is stated that 23 pregnant and postpartum women, and eleven providers participated. The 
abstract gives the impression that the total number of participants were 23 ('i.e. twenty -three 
interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim'). Please make this clear.  
 
Are the methods appropriate and well described?  
If not, please specify what is required in your comments to the authors.  
 
Unable to assess  
 
Does the work include the necessary controls?  
If not, please specify which controls are required in your comments to the authors.  
 
Unable to assess  
 
Are the conclusions drawn adequately supported by the data shown?  
If not, please explain in your comments to the authors.  
 
Yes 
 
Are you able to assess any statistics in the manus cript or would you recommend an 
additional statistical review?  
If an additional sta tistical review is recommended, please speci fy what aspects require further 
assessment in your comments to the editors.  
 
Not relevant to this manuscript  
 
Quality of written English  
Please indicate the quality of language in the manuscript:  
 
Acceptable  
 
Declara tion of competing interests  
Please complete a declaration of competing interests, considering the following questions:  
 
1.  Have you in the past five years received reimbursements, f ees, funding, or salary 
from an organisation that may in any way gain or lose financial ly from the 
publication of this manuscript, either now or in the future?  
 
2.  Do you hold any stocks or shares in an organisation t hat may in any way gain or 
lose financially from the publication of this  manuscript, either now or in the 
future?  
 
3.  Do you hold or are you currently applying for any patents  relating to the content 
of the manuscript?  
4.  Have you received reimbursements, fees, funding, or salary from an organization 
that holds or has applied f or patents relating to the content of the manuscript?  
 
5.  Do you have any other financial competing interests?  
 
6.  Do you have any non -financial competing interests in relation to this paper?  
 
If you can answer no to all of the above, write 'I declare that I have  no competing interests' 
below. If your reply is yes to any, please give details below.  
 
I declare that I have no competing interests  
 
I agree to the open peer review policy of the journal. I understan d that my name will be included 
on my report to the a uthors and, if the manuscript is accepted f or publication, my named report 
including any attachments I upload will be posted on the website along with the authors' 
responses. I agree for my report to be made available under an Open Access Creative Commons 
CC-BY license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ). I understand that any comments 
which I do not wish to be included in my named report can be in cluded as confidential comments 
to the editors, which will not be published.  
 
I agree to the open peer  review policy of the journal