Black pregnant women encounter structural racism and intersectional bias from healthcare providers. By centering their perspectives and experiences of racial discrimination in healthcare settings, public health and medical professionals can utilize anti-racist frameworks to create more equitable, just practices in reproductive healthcare.
Read more about Drs. Ashley Hill and Natacha De Genna's findings here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38106375/
Drs. Ashley Hill, Natacha De Genna, and their team found that young Black women who desired pregnancy and birthing support during Covid-19 encountered structural racism and intersectional bias from healthcare providers.
Read more about their research findings here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667321523001178?via%3Dihub
Drs. Mendez, Jarlenski, Chang, and their team measured racial inequities in drug testing among pregnant people and found that clinicians were more likely to order urine drug testing for Black patients compared with their White counterparts.
Read more of their findings here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37769307/
Poor birth outcomes are more prevalent for Black communities, but strong evidence shows that doula care can improve those outcomes. In this study by Dr. Mosley and her team, doulas noted the alarming Black maternal mortality rate and how mistreatment causes Black clients to lose trust in medical staff, leaving them in need of advocates. Doulas also discussed the ways that race influences their connections with clients and their dissatisfaction with the lack of cultural humility or sensitivity training in standard doula training.
Dr. Marian Jarlenski's recent study shows:
• There are racial/ethnic inequities in medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD) use during pregnancy.
• Less is known about racial/ethnic inequities in MOUD use postpartum.
• White women had longer duration of MOUD postpartum than Hispanic or Black women.
• Inequities differed by type of MOUD.
• Reducing inequities in MOUD use is critical to improving perinatal outcomes.
Drs. Jarlenski, Brown-Podgorski, and Krans sought to understand associations between race, receiving urine toxicology testing, and positive test results among pregnant patients. Findings show that Black patients experience increased drug testing practices.
Read more about their findings here: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama-health-forum/fullarticle/2803729
Congratulations to Dr. Marian Jarlenski for a successful PCORI grant focused on improving pregnancy-related health outcomes.
Dr. Esa Davis and her team identified barriers to urogynecologic care for underrepresented racial and ethnic minority women in the US by conducting a systematic search.
Read their findings here: https://journals.lww.com/fpmrs/Fulltext/2023/02000/Barriers_to_Urogynecologic_Care_for_Racial_and.1.aspx
Drs. Ashley Hill and Natacha De Genna qualitatively examined coping mechanisms and desired supports in pregnant and birthing Black and biracial adolescent and young adult women during the COVID-19 pandemic. Their team found that nearly half the interviewees reported mental health symptoms consistent with postpartum depression and that several were afraid to disclose their symptoms to a healthcare provider due to fear of child protective services involvement and their belief they would be treated unfairly because of their race.
