Graduation Year

2024

Document Type

Open Access Senior Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Psychology

Reader 1

Ted Bartholomew

Reader 2

Stacey Wood

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Rights Information

© 2024 Andrea M Siame

Abstract

Pregnancy disproportionately puts the lives of Black women at risk, causing stress, mistrust, and discomfort to be integral aspects of their perinatal experiences. This stress, mistrust, and discomfort is rooted in Black women’s understanding of the structural racism embedded in the healthcare system. In order for Black women’s psyche to be adequately cared for during their pregnancy, they need perinatal support that places Black feminist theories into practice in their support of Black women. This means that it is necessary to provide support that is rooted in reproductive justice, giving autonomy to Black women during their pregnancy. This support can be provided by Black doulas because reproductive justice is often a framework that guides their work in caring for Black women and dismantling systems that create inequity in healthcare. This study aims to amplify the voices of Black women whose lived experiences will demonstrate why Black doulas can provide mental health support that addresses the stress, mistrust, and comfort of pregnant Black women. In this study, six Black women will be interviewed about their past perinatal experiences accompanied by Black doulas. It is hypothesized that the use of Black doulas caused their stress levels to decrease and their trust and comfort levels to increase. There is limited psychological research on the immense impact that Black doulas have on the psychological well-being of pregnant Black women, so this study will fill this gap in the literature on Black pregnancy.

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