Date of Conferral

2021

Degree

Doctor of Public Health (DrPH)

School

Public Health

Advisor

Chester Jones

Abstract

According to recent studies, disparities are prevalent in maternal and fetal outcomes between Black and White mothers in the United States. Researchers have established that using a midwife versus other healthcare practitioners can elicit positive maternal and fetal outcomes for Black mothers. However, no within-race research has been conducted exploring midwifery as an insulating factor against these disparities. The purpose of this quantitative retrospective cohort study was to explore the impact of midwifery on infant and maternal outcomes compared to outcomes associated with other prenatal care models/caregivers among Black mothers in California using secondary data. The ecological model was used as the theoretical framework. Although the findings were not statistically significant, a post-analysis of the secondary data set using additional data from 2013 yielded statistically significant findings regarding differences in birth weight between Black mothers who chose to use midwives versus other healthcare providers. The post hoc analysis consisted of the same methods applied in the original analysis when possible and adapted when necessary to include a Pearson-chi square and Mann-Whitney U test. Namely, Black mothers who used a midwife had a statistically significantly lower frequency of having infants with a low birth weight than Black mothers who chose a different prenatal care provider. Implications of these findings for positive social change include that Black mothers may benefit from the results of this study through health practitioners’ implementation of practices to bolster monitoring of Black mothers’ prenatal care to mitigate factors that may contribute to this disparity.

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