Background Systematic review evidence suggests preconception interventions may be effective in improving maternal and child health outcomes, but few studies have explored women’s views and experiences of these interventions. The Department of Health and Social Care has thus called for more research with women to determine how best to engage them in preconception health interventions. We aimed to explore women’s views on potential delivery methods, content and target populations for interventions to improve preconception health.

Methods Women (18-48 years) in the West of England with varying sociodemographic characteristics, reproductive histories and pregnancy intentions were purposively sampled from 313 survey respondents and invited to take part in semi-structured, in-depth interviews. Their views on seven candidate delivery methods for preconception interventions were explored: general practitioners, nurse practitioners, pharmacists, social media, personal texts and emails, pregnancy tests, and health education in schools. Data were analysed using a data-driven framework analysis.

Results Twenty women were interviewed, of which half (50%) had previously been pregnant and two-thirds (65%) reported a desire for a future pregnancy. Women highlighted a lack of a clear go-to place for preconception health information and a need for interventions that are sensitive to a range of people, such as those experiencing infertility and women who do not want children. They wanted preconception interventions to be easily accessible but allow them to conceal their pregnancy plans. They preferred to choose to receive these interventions but were receptive to health professionals raising preconception health during ‘relevant’ appointments such as contraceptive counselling and cervical smear tests. They wanted intervention content to provide trustworthy and positively-framed information that highlights the benefits of good preconception health and avoids stigmatising women for their weight and actions. The inclusion of support for preconception mental health and the use of visual media, personalisation, simple information, and interesting and unfamiliar facts were viewed favourably. In line with national policy recommendations, a need to deliver preventive interventions ahead of first pregnancy was highlighted.

Conclusion To be acceptable to women, interventions to improve preconception health should reflect the sensitivities of pregnancy, be easy to access in a way that enables discretion, and be designed to seek consent to receive the intervention. These interventions should ideally be tailored to their target populations and provide trustworthy information from reputable sources. Reach, impact and unintended harmful effects should be explored. A quantitative assessment of the representativeness of the views women reported is a potential avenue for future research.