Collaborative Research Experience
Research Questions
-
Does the length of time that a pregnant person works with a doula impact how they give birth? (vaginally*, VBAC, Cesarean*, Forceps/vacumm)
-
Does the length of time that a pregnant person works with a doula impact the rate of negative birth outcomes?( low birth weight, premature birth, use of medication, medical intervention)
-
What influence do Everyday Miracles doulas have on how satisfied pregnant people are with their pregnancy and birth experiecne?
-
What are the rates of African-American women who worked with a doula and breastfed in comparison to other women who worked with a doula and breastfed?
During the fall semester of 2019 I got the opportunity to do a collaborative research project as a part of my sociology major with one of my faculty advisers, Dr. Ryan LeCount. In collaboration with my adviser, I came up with a research topic based around Reproductive Justice and analyzed birth data previously collected by Everyday Miracles. This experience taught me so much about research and opened my eyes to the joy behind doing research about a topic you are passionate about. This project is currently still in progress and therefore we do not have definite findings yet. Please read below for more information on our research questions as well as what we expect to find from our analysis.
What We Expect to find
​
-
The longer a pregnant person works with a doula the more likely they are to give birth vaginally and less likely to give birth by cesarean or forceps/vacumm
-
The longer a pregnant person works with a doula, the less likely they are to have negative birth outcomes or use pain medication or need medical intervention
-
Doulas will positively impact how pregnant people felt about their pregnancy and birth experience
-
The rate of African-American women who breastfeed will be higher than average because they worked with a doula, but will still be lower in comparison to other women