PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Elle Lett
AU  - Marie-Fatima Hyacinthe
AU  - Dána-Ain Davis
AU  - Karen A. Scott
TI  - Community Support Persons and Mitigating Obstetric Racism During Childbirth
AID  - 10.1370/afm.2958
DP  - 2023 May 01
TA  - The Annals of Family Medicine
PG  - 227--233
VI  - 21
IP  - 3
4099  - http://www.annfammed.org/content/21/3/227.short
4100  - http://www.annfammed.org/content/21/3/227.full
SO  - Ann Fam Med2023 May 01; 21
AB  - PURPOSE We undertook a study to assess whether presence of community support persons (CSPs), with no hospital affiliation or alignment, mitigates acts of obstetric racism during hospitalization for labor, birth, and immediate postpartum care.METHODS We conducted a cross-sectional cohort study, measuring 3 domains of obstetric racism as defined for, by, and with Black birthing people: humanity (violation of safety and accountability, autonomy, communication and information exchange, and empathy); kinship (denial or disruption of community and familial bonds that support Black birthing people); and racism in the form of anti-Black racism and misogynoir (weaponization of societal stereotypes and scripts in service provision that reproduce gendered anti-Black racism in the hospital). We used a novel, validated instrument, the Patient-Reported Experience Measure of Obstetric Racism (the PREM-OB Scale suite), and linear regression analysis to determine the association between CSP presence during hospital births and obstetric racism.RESULTS Analyses were based on 806 Black birthing people, 720 (89.3%) of whom had at least 1 CSP present throughout their labor, birth, and immediate postpartum care. The presence of CSPs was associated with fewer acts of obstetric racism across all 3 domains, with statistically significant reductions in scores in the CSP group of one-third to two-third SD units relative to the no-CSP group.CONCLUSIONS Our findings suggest that CSPs may be an effective way to reduce obstetric racism as part of quality improvement initiatives, emphasizing the need for democratizing the birthing experience and birth space, and incorporating community members as a way to promote the safety of Black birthing people in hospital settings.Annals “Online First” article