Doula care, or the support of a trained professional during, before, and/or after birth, consistently shows positive impacts for women not only in terms of their birthing experience but also in birth outcomes. This study evaluated the impact of the San Francisco Department of Public Health’s initiative to provide community doula care to pregnant Black and Pacific Islander women through SisterWeb Community Doula Network. The program provides doula care before, during, and after birth, including prenatal visits, labor and delivery support, and postpartum visits, to eligible women delivering at San Francisco hospitals.

From 2019 to 2022, researchers from the University of California, Berkeley and the University of California, San Francisco worked with SisterWeb to conduct process and outcome evaluations of this initiative. We aimed to determine the impact of community doula care on a range of clinical outcomes and patient-reported outcomes, including engagement with prenatal and postpartum care, satisfaction with childbirth, and experience of respectful care. We used mixed methods and a range of data sources—program data, surveys, and in-depth interviews—to achieve this aim. The UCSF Preterm Birth Initiative funded this project.