AHRQ Innovations Exchange | Nursing Students Provide Free Doula Care to Underserved Women, Leading to Fewer Preterm Deliveries, Low Birthweight Babies, and Cesarean Sections

Nursing Students Provide Free Doula Care to Underserved Women, Leading to Fewer Preterm Deliveries, Low Birthweight Babies, and Cesarean Sections

Snapshot
Summary
The Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing Birth Companions Program assigns student doulas (labor assistants who support women throughout the childbirth process) to underserved pregnant women, free of charge. The program trains nursing students to provide emotional, informational, and physical support to women throughout pregnancy and childbirth, including labor. Students also maintain a bilingual patient referral line and deliver prenatal education to groups of women at community-based organizations. The program lowered the risk of preterm delivery and having a low birthweight baby, reduced deliveries by cesarean section, and generated high levels of patient satisfaction.

Evidence Rating
Suggestive: The evidence consists of data on preterm births, low birthweight babies, and cesarean sections for 595 births attended by program doulas between January 1, 1999 and June 30, 2008, compared with Maryland statewide averages for these indicators. It also includes satisfaction survey responses gathered from 405 program participants between 1999 and 2006.

Developing Organizations
Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing

Date First Implemented
1997

Patient Population
Age > Newborn (0-1 month); Adolescent (13-18 years); Adult (19-44 years); Race and Ethnicity > Hispanic/Latino-Latina; Gender > Female; Vulnerable Populations > Children; Immigrants; Impoverished; Non-English speaking/limited English proficiency; Racial minorities; Women


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AHRQ Innovations Exchange | Nursing Students Provide Free Doula Care to Underserved Women, Leading to Fewer Preterm Deliveries, Low Birthweight Babies, and Cesarean Sections