Healthcare Professionals who serve Women of Color and Expecting Mothers

• Hire Staff for the Program.

• Find 10 Healthcare Professionals to lead workshops.

• Find accessible locations where we can hold training sessions and activities.

• Purchase necessary materials to conduct activities.

• Develop a curriculum to train healthcare professionals on cultural competency.

• Develop a Social Media campaign to spread the word about our program, this could include flyers posted throughout the city to those without internet access.

• Develop an online resource, a website, that allows us to provide information for pregnancy, birthing, and maternal resources.

  
  

• Participants will collaborate with Doulas and Midwives through a series of health education classes and courses that meet 3 hours a day, once a week for 6 months to learn more about their pregnancies.

  • Training Topics: Pregnancy risks, maternal mortality rates, managing health during pregnancy, navigating the healthcare system, and pospartum care

  • Completion of course material that end with group discussions facilitated by instructors to evaluate understanding of subject matter

  • Each week will be a different topic

  • 5 cohorts of 20 participants that rotate through different training topics

Black Birth Matters:

• Doulas and Midwives will undergo training over the course of 3 months; each training session will be 3-4 hours long and occur 2-3 times a month. This training will involve the development of culturally competent and sensitive healthcare practices in order to design effective coursework materials as well as create inclusive environments for the participants involved.

• 20 Participants per group; 5 groups will be served during this training

• Training approach

  • Complete coursework to demonstrate adequate understanding

  • Collaborate with midwives and doulas

• Training Topics

  • Culturally sensitive care, social determinants, crash course of the history regarding maternal mortality rates

Peer Support Group:

-Gather participants from Maternal Health Training for Black Moters to form peer support groups. These support groups will act as a resource for participants to facilitate group conversations and to create a community. They will essentially bond through group activities that stimulate discussion surrounding potential mental health issues can arise due to pregnancy. Groups will usually consist of 15 participants, but will meet 3-4 times a week for 1 hr sessions.

Short Term: Increasing the # of people working in a hospital setting and diversifying the work place so that provider bias decreases by 6 months. (Circumstances)

Increase in the # of Pregnant Black Women in SF/Bay Area Who Have Access to Timely and Quality Prenatal Care Resources in 12 Months.(circumstances)

Short Term:

Increase in the # of Pregnant Black Women in SF/Bay Area Who Know Where To Access Prenatal Resources Within 3 Months.(Knowledge)

Short Term:

Increase in the # of Pregnant Black Women in SF/Bay Area Who Believe They Can Reach Out To Their HealthCare Providers With A Positive Experience Within 6 Months.(attitude)

Increase in the # of Pregnant Black Women in SF/Bay Area Who Have Access to Supportive Groups, Family Members, and Friends Who Are Supporting Them Through This Journey Within 12 Months. (Behaviour)

Short Term:

Increase in the # of Pregnant Black Women in SF/Bay Area Area Who Believe They Have Access to Support Systems Online Within 3 Months. (Attitude)

Increase in the # of Pregnant Black Women in SF/Bay Area attending prenatal and postpartum appointments from their healthcare providers in 1 year. (Behavior)

Short Term:

Increase in the # of Pregnant Black Women in the SF/Bay Area who know about their pregnancy (natal health, their initial health during pregnancy, pregnancy milestones, etc.) in 6 months.  (Knowledge)

Short Term:

Increase the # of Pregnant Black Women in SF/Bay Area that believe they can manage their health during pregnancy in 6 months. (Attitude)

• Although everyone is affected by Maternal Mortality, Black Women are at much higher risk. (Detailed Evaluation of Changes in Data Collection Methods, 2019)

• Black/African American mothers had about 4 out of100 births, but experienced 5 out of 10 maternal deaths, and 15 out of 100 infant deaths.

  
  

  (Black Maternal Health in the U.S., 2023)

  (Maternal and Infant Mortality, SFHip)

(Njoku, et al., 2023)

• This mistrust in healthcare leads to a lack of open communication between healthcare providers and black women, which worsens their case as there may not be sufficient information to determine a proper and accurate diagnosis.

• Factors such as ignoring and withholding diagnoses, lack of appropriate referrals, and poor documentation and communication can endanger Black women’s lives.

(Njoku, et al., 2023)

• Pre-existing conditions like preeclampsia, postpartum hemorrhage, and blood clots are more likely to occur in Black Women.

• Lack of health insurance

• Lack of culturally competent care

• Maternal health policies

• Racism and bias in healthcare settings.

  (Winny & Bervell, 2023)

• Redlining (Montalmant et al., 2023)

• Structural racism (Njoku, et al., 2023)

This information is important as we can address these specific topics when improving healthcare experiences for Black mothers in the SF/Bay Area. These factors contribute to Maternal Mortality and increase the likelihood of Black Mothers looking into healthcare.

https://www.sf.gov/perinatal-equity-initiative#

https://globalhealthsciences.ucsf.edu/black-maternal-mortality-a-human-rights-crisis/

https://sfhip.org/chna/community-health-data/maternal-and-infant-mortality/

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9914526/

https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2023/solving-the-black-maternal-health-crisis#:~:text=Black%20birthing%20people%20are%20also,birth%20and%20low%

https://www.kff.org/racial-equity-and-health-policy/issue-brief/racial-disparities-in-maternal-and-infant-health-current-status-and-efforts-to-address-them/

https://www.cdc.gov/womens-health/features/maternal-mortality.html#:~:text=Black%20women%20are%20three%20times,%2C%20physical%2C%20and%20emotional%20health.

https://sfhip.org/chna/community-health-data/maternal-and-infant-mortality/

https://mjgh.library.mcgill.ca/article/view/1322/1380

https://sfhip.org/chna/community-health-data/maternal-and-infant-mortality/

https://www.sf.gov/perinatal-equity-initiative

Hunt, J. (2021). Maternal Mortality among Black Women in the United States. Ballard Brief. https://ballardbrief.byu.edu/issue-briefs/maternal-mortality-among-black-women-in-the-united-states

Tulane University. (2023, June 20). Black maternal health in the U.S. Publichealth.tulane.edu. https://publichealth.tulane.edu/blog/black-maternal-health-racial-disparities/

‌

Black Babies who BLOOM | UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals Foundation. (n.d.). Give.ucsfbenioffchildrens.org. https://give.ucsfbenioffchildrens.org/stories/bloom-black-baby-equity-clinic

‌

https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2023/solving-the-black-maternal-health-crisis#:~:text=Black%20birthing%20people%20are%20also,birth%20and%20low%20birth%20weight

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/maternal-mortality/evaluation.htm#:~:text=Maternal%20mortality%20is%20an%20important,from%20accidental%20or%20incidental%20causes.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-023-01816-x