The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA

Abstract #41953

Victoria Booker, MSW, MPH, Migrant Health Promotion, 224 W. Michigan Ave., Saline, MI 48176, 734-944-0244, tbooker@tdi.net

Promotoras de salud or community health workers have provided education and support around prenatal care for years. This session will describe a new and exciting initiative involving experienced community health workers in Michigan who are taking their training a step further and working as Doulas. A Doula is an ancient word for Childbirth Attendant. In the program, migrant farmworker women are trained in the art and science of assisting women through pregnancy and childbirth. They manage a caseload of pregnant women and support them all the way from prenatal care to being present in the delivery room. Migrant farmworker women are often unfamiliar with the health care system and hospital procedures. Prenatal and post-partum care is often sporadic, with many missed appointments due to lack of transportation, lack of understanding of the health care system, and lack of appropriate social support. This problem has become especially noticeable as more pregnant women from the rural and indigenous areas of Mexico join the migrant stream. The goals of the program include removing barriers to prenatal care, providing emotional and educational support to pregnant women and their partners, assisting with translation at medical visits, and finally, assisting the woman through the birth process. In this session, results from the first two years of the program will be presented, along with materials and evaluation instruments. The work of the Doulas will be compared and contrasted to other, more traditional maternal support service programs. Come learn about the accomplishments and challenges of this new initiative!

Learning Objectives:

1. Attendees will be able to understand and appreciate the difference between Doula support of pregnancy versus the medical management of pregnancy and the importance of both. 2. Attendees will learn how the Doulas used both medical information and traditional beliefs about pregnancy and birth to assist both the pregnant migrant women and the hospital staff in supporting a healthy birth process.
• Attendees will be able to describe the basic design of the Doula Program, including tools that can be adapted and used by community health worker programs interested in starting their own Program.

Keywords: Community Health Promoters, Pregnancy Outcomes

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.