AcademyHealth's Evidence-Informed State Health Policy Institute and the University of Pittsburgh are both spearheads of Project DREAM (Doula Research for Equitable Advances in Medicaid Pregnancy Health). Susan Kennedy, MSW, MPP serves as the Principal Investigator with Marian Jarlenski, PHd, MPH serving as an additional lead investigator.
What is the research about?
Women of color are more likely than white women to have poor pregnancy outcomes. More women of color die during or after pregnancy. Also, women of color are more likely to have a preterm birth.
Doula care can improve health outcomes for expecting women. A doula provides advice, information, and emotional and physical support before, during, and after birth. But many women of color don’t receive doula care or even standard care during pregnancy or after childbirth.
In this study, the research team is looking to see if:
- Medicaid doula programs improve care and health outcomes for women of color after childbirth.
Read the published study protocol here.
Research Goals & Aims
The goal is to explore how doula program implementation, and variation in implementation across 6 states, may affect racial equity and severe maternal mortality and morbidity during the postpartum period.
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- Assess implementation of new state Medicaid doula programs, including efforts focused on racial health equity and Medicaid beneficiary experience.
- Evaluate the extent to which doula care facilitates equity in the quality of postpartum care, treatment, and experiences.
- Estimate the effects of state Medicaid doula care programs on racial equity in postpartum severe maternal morbidities.
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This study include partnerships with 9 doula organizations and 6 university research teams from the Medicaid Outcomes Distributed Research Network (MODRN).
South Carolina's lead Doula organization partner is BirthMatters.
BirthMatters provides community doula services to young pregnant women.
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Who can this research help?
Results may help state agencies and health departments determine if access to doula care is one strategy to improve childbirth outcomes for expecting women of color.