Design of a Community Based Doula Program in the Accountability through Undoing Racism and Equity For Moms Study

Accountability for Care through Undoing Racism 4 Moms is a cluster randomized trial of interventions designed to combat the impacts of interpersonal and systemic racism on low birth weight at 40 prenatal practices across North Carolina. One intervention is receiving community-based doula (CBD) support for high-risk pregnancies. CBDs have designed the intervention and trained 30 new CBDs in birth support, infant feeding, childbirth education, perinatal mood disorders, postpartum support, and Afro-centric care practices. CBDs attend quarterly meetings including maternal health equity education training together with the staff from the assigned practice for shared learning, accountability and relationship building. They provide prenatal, birth, and postpartum support for 3000 births.