About Us
How has the growing awareness of the maternal crisis influenced women of colors perceptions of their risk, maternity care choices, and patient empowerment?
We seek to understand this through a mixed-methods approach consisting of both qualitative and quantitative methods including interviews, focus groups, and hospital discharge data among Black women of reproductive age, their male partners/fathers, doulas, and delivering clinicians to assess:
- The perceptions of the maternal morbidity and mortality statistics and disparities from both the patient and providers perspective
- The perceptions of strategies to address this crisis to provide opportunities to assist Black moms in moving from awareness of this data to empowerment during the pregnancy, delivery, and postpartum periods.
The maternal morbidity and mortality rates and associated disparities as experienced disproportionately
by Black women is a human rights crisis in America.
Our Mission
We seek to understand these key questions:
- In Massachusetts, what are patients’, providers’, and fathers/partners’ knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about the MA rates of Black maternal morbidity (SMM) and mortality, particularly the inequities between Black rates and rates of other racial groups?
- How does one’s level of awareness of these outcomes and inequities affect maternity care choices among patients and birth supporters (fathers/partners) and care delivery among providers?
- What solutions or strategies are supported and desired among patients and birth supporters (fathers/partners) and providers?
Our Vision
To move as a collective unit with the community to reduce maternal mortality for all women and specifically for closing the gap in maternal mortality for Black women.