The aim of this study was to learn from doulas the components of their services that might best serve low-income, African American (AA) women and to show the significance of doulas in helping these women have healthy, positive, birth experiences.
This study was an exploration of perspectives of community doulas working with a specific population of low-income AA women in a mid-size urban area. Because of documentation that captures the detail in these doulas’ narratives, and the rigorous, iterative process of analysis used by the researchers, we are confident that we have presented findings grounded in the lived experiences of a group of community doulas. These findings contribute to a small but growing body of evidence of the importance of doulas.

The first theme that arose from interviews was that similarities of race, culture, and lived experience impact care. Although there is currently no research on the race concordance of doulas and their clients, similar research shows that race similarity between physicians and patients influences patient’s comfort with their provider.2