Women's Health Commons^™

Addressing The Black Maternal Mortality Rate, Kennedy Sanders, Venkateswar Venkataraman, Kate Whelihan

Rowan-Virtua Research Day

Introduction: As of 2021, the Black maternal mortality rate in the United States was 69.9 deaths per 100,000 live births as compared to the national average of 32.9 and the White American average of 26.61. It has been demonstrated that this discrepancy is not fully explained by socioeconomic status. Doulas are professionals who provide support and guidance throughout pregnancy, birth, and early parenthood. Encouraging the use of doulas may be an effective approach to improve the birth experience for Black mothers. Methods: A literature review was performed using PubMed and the following search strings: maternal mortality rate (+race, +race +ethnicity, …

Barriers To Doula Use In New Jersey After 2021 Medicaid Coverage Expansion, June Solow, Aashna Reddy, Natali Sharma, Jonathan Lewis

Rowan-Virtua Research Day

Background: Doulas are trained non-clinical professionals that provide continuous support to a pregnant mother from the prenatal to postpartum period. Presence of a doula has been shown to benefit both mother and newborn health.

Purpose: To determine what prevents doula utilization in New Jersey.

Methods: A review of the current literature about doulas, mothers, clinicians, and legislation in other states was conducted. This included qualitative and quantitative data gathered in the United States.

Results: The most significant barrier from both the mother’s and doula’s perspectives is cost. Besides cost, diversity and number of doulas is low. A major barrier to …

Seeking Sustainable Solutions To Period Poverty Amongst Homeless Women In Camden County, Nj, Bilal Khan, Alana Smith, Melisa Ibarra-Zavala

Rowan-Virtua Research Day

Health Careers Opportunity Program (HCOP) – National Ambassadors is an effort for underserved high school, undergraduate, and medical students to collaborate on a research-based community service project to equip future health professionals with tools to heal their communities.

The average woman spends up to 3500 days of their life menstruating. Menstrual health is therefore not just a fundamental human right, but a robust indicator of community well-being. Despite the biological inevitably of menstruation, barriers to practicing adequate menstrual hygiene, or “Period Poverty,” are far common and often ignored in public forums. Period products face a luxury goods sales tax in …