Doulas are medical staff who are non-clinical and trained to offer pregnant women emotional, social, physical, and informational support before, during, and after labor and delivery. They advocate for new and expecting moms by motivating and assisting them in satisfying their specific needs for childbirth. These healthcare personnel are very protective and nurturing of women to help them safeguard the memory of their birth experience. Doulas have limitations because they cannot provide input into medical determinations, monitor newborn infants, administer medicine, and manage deliveries. Mothers have a lot to contemplate before and after they have their new babies. All these choices can seem overwhelming to them, but one of the most important decisions is who they want to have in the delivery room with them. Many mothers want to enlist a doula for support to advocate for their needs.
The mental state of new and expecting mothers can be impacted before, during, and after their birth journey because pregnancy and childbirth can cause more than just bodily changes in women; it can also impact their psychological well-being due to fluctuating hormones, which can lead to all types of feelings. Nearly four out of five new mothers have mood changes such as baby blues, and one in five develop a mental health disorder such as post-traumatic stress, anxiety, and depression, which can influence how they act, think, and feel about things. Therefore, when new and expecting moms go through these rough and challenging times, a doula can support them before, during, and after childbirth.
Research has shown that doula care can increase positive birth outcomes and reduce the adverse impacts that women face when they do not have adequate emotional and social support. Some of the negative outcomes they can experience include poor nutrition, smoking, ideas of suicide, exhaustion, burnout, migraines, hypertension, breastfeeding problems, premature or prolonged labor, bonding issues with their babies, and diabetes. Childbirth can sometimes be a stressful experience, which can have chronic side effects on the moms and their babies; so, women who have poor social and emotional support pose a higher risk of having maternal mental health issues due to stress being related to negative outcomes.
Furthermore, studies have demonstrated that low self-efficacy among expecting mothers is extremely associated with having fears of birth, being afraid of completing the birth process and fearing their babies dying. Doula Care helps new and expecting moms increase personal autonomy, decrease health inequalities, and fill knowledge gaps by offering them reassurance, empathy, and unbiased communication because they act as intermediaries between women and medical personnel. They aim to provide new and expecting mothers with continuous guidance, encouragement, and support so these women can make better choices.
In conclusion, doula care is important to new and expecting mothers because it can help them lower peripartum and postpartum stress and anxiety by providing them with reassurance and empowerment. Research and literature have demonstrated how doulas have positively impacted maternal perception and health outcomes for mothers and newborn babies. The relationships that doulas foster with new and expecting moms are beneficial due to their advocacy, support, and encouragement, which can improve women's satisfaction, health, and well-being before, during, and after childbirth. Doula care should be a standard healthcare option for women today because it can lower psychological morbidities in new and expecting moms, especially females who lack emotional, social, physical, and informational support. Overall, doulas can help alleviate health inequalities and increase health equity because they can improve medical care from their positive impacts on the psychological, sociological, and physiological health and well-being of women.
References:
1. Sobczak A, Taylor L, Solomon S, Ho J, Kemper S, Phillips B, Jacobson K, Castellano C, Ring A, Castellano B, Jacobs RJ. The effect of doulas on maternal and birth outcomes: a scoping review. Cureus. 2023. 24;15(5):e39451. Accessed February 7, 2024. doi: 10.7759/cureus.39451.
2. Take care of your mental health during pregnancy. March of Dimes- Healthy Moms Strong Babies. July 22, 2022. Accessed February 7, 2024. https://www.marchofdimes.org/find-support/blog/take-care-your-mental-health-during-pregnancy#:~:text=Pregnancy%20and%20childbirth%20can%20trigger,more%20serious%20mental%20health%20issues.
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