Project Summary
Background: Doulas are trained professionals who provide educational, physical, and spiritual support before, during, and after childbirth. Doula support is associated with improved maternal and infant outcomes. Although limited, research on the benefits of doula care has led to identification of doula care as a strategy to reduce racial/ethnic disparities in maternal and infant health outcomes. Specifically, research on the impact of community doulas is limited; community doulas provide comprehensive services at low or no cost to underserved communities, are often members of the communities they serve, and share cultures and languages with their clients. Stakeholder engagement, particularly from women of color and community doulas whose voices have largely been absent from research and policy conversations, is vital for future patient-centered outcomes research (PCOR) on the impact of community doula care.
Proposed Solution to the Problem: The project team will create a collaborative of stakeholders in California that will facilitate equitable, ethical, and PCOR on community doula care. This approach will be successful because it creates the infrastructure for the development of a shared research agenda that centers women of color and community doulas. California is ideal for this work, given ongoing pilots evaluating the impact of community doula care in San Francisco and Los Angeles, and interest from policy makers to advance Medicaid coverage for doula care.
Objectives: The project’s objective is to establish a collaborative of California stakeholders to develop a research agenda for community doula care as an intervention to advance maternal and infant health equity. The long-term objective is to inform patient-centered, equity-focused, community-informed research on the impact of community doula care.
Funder
Leadership Team


Dr. Cassondra Marshall, Principal Investigator
Assistant Professor | Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health Program
University of California, Berkeley



Associate Professor | School of Social Welfare
Director | SHARE Program
University of California, Berkeley

Associate Professor | Department of Family Health Care Nursing
Executive Director | ACTIONS
University of California, San Francisco

Steering Committee Members

Natalie Berbick
PEI Coordinator, Contra Costa County

Amy Chen
Senior Attorney, National Health Law Program

Coming Soon
Marlena Cohen
Steering Committee Member

Ajira Darch
Steering Committee Member

Shantay Davies-Balch
Founder, Black Wellness and Prosperity Center

Coming Soon
Kimberley Durdin
Student Midwife, Kindred Space LA

Pratima Gupta
OB/GYN and Assistant Professor
University of California, San Diego

Mashariki Kudumu
Maternal and Child Health Director, March of Dimes

Pooja Mittal
Medical Director, California Health and Wellness
HealthNet

Curley Palmer
PEI Coordinator, Riverside County

Ayori Selassie
Steering Committee Member

Truc Tang
Clinical Quality Program Director, California Medicaid Anthem

Kimeshia Thomas
OB/GYN, University of Southern California
Project learnings
What is a community doula?
Throughout this project, stakeholders recognized a need to increase awareness about community doula care. Steering Committee members drew from their own experiences to answer a common question: “What is a community doula?” Read their description.
With the Steering Committee’s input, artist and visual scribe Ashanti Gardner created an illustration meant to educate the public about community doula care. If you would like to share the illustration below on social media, click here to save the image to your device.
