Deeds of a Doula: The Impact of Doula Care on Maternal and Neonatal Health in the United States
Major
Public Health
Anticipated Graduation Year
Fall 2022
Access Type
Open Access
Abstract
The United States ranks worse on maternal and infant mortality than other high-resource countries. Around one-third of U.S. pregnancy-related deaths, counted up to one year post-birth, occur during pregnancy. Further, substantial racial/ethnic and geographic disparities exist for maternal mortality, where Black and Native American individuals have at least 2 to 3-fold higher rates than the rest of the population. Doulas - professional labor assistants who provide continuous physical and emotional support throughout pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period - have the potential to improve maternal and neonatal health outcomes and disparities. In this review, we will examine how doula support can improve public health and clinical outcomes such as diminishing the likelihood of low birth weight babies, increasing breastfeeding initiation and duration, decreasing neonatal unit admission, and improving overall maternal wellbeing. The results of this literature review on community-based interventions leveraging doula support can help policymakers, clinicians, and community health workers recognize the importance of the doula in a multidisciplinary obstetric care team and their role in bridging the equity gaps observed in maternal and infant health outcomes today.
Faculty Mentors & Instructors
Justin Harbison, PhD, MS, Assistant Professor of Public Health Sciences ; Anthony McIntosh, MPH, MA, Part-Time Instructor of Public Health Sciences
Streaming Media
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
Deeds of a Doula: The Impact of Doula Care on Maternal and Neonatal Health in the United States
The United States ranks worse on maternal and infant mortality than other high-resource countries. Around one-third of U.S. pregnancy-related deaths, counted up to one year post-birth, occur during pregnancy. Further, substantial racial/ethnic and geographic disparities exist for maternal mortality, where Black and Native American individuals have at least 2 to 3-fold higher rates than the rest of the population. Doulas - professional labor assistants who provide continuous physical and emotional support throughout pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period - have the potential to improve maternal and neonatal health outcomes and disparities. In this review, we will examine how doula support can improve public health and clinical outcomes such as diminishing the likelihood of low birth weight babies, increasing breastfeeding initiation and duration, decreasing neonatal unit admission, and improving overall maternal wellbeing. The results of this literature review on community-based interventions leveraging doula support can help policymakers, clinicians, and community health workers recognize the importance of the doula in a multidisciplinary obstetric care team and their role in bridging the equity gaps observed in maternal and infant health outcomes today.