ArticleHealth services research2023
Racism is a motivator and a barrier for people of color aspiring to become midwives in the United States.
Article in Health services research, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers.
What it found
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed.
- Deep care: a qualitative analysis of black community midwifery.Archives of public health = Archives belges de sante publique · 2026Article
- "Sometimes the Doulas, They Need a Doula": A Qualitative Analysis of Black and Pacific Islander Doulas' Perspectives on Personal and Professional Growth as Birth Workers.The Journal of perinatal education · 2025Article
- The Benefits of Licensed Midwifery and Community Birth Among BIPOC Birthing People in New Mexico.Birth (Berkeley, Calif.) · 2025Article
- Postpartum care for parent-infant dyads: A community midwifery model.Birth (Berkeley, Calif.) · 2024Article
- Racism is a motivator and a barrier for people of color aspiring to become midwives in the United States.Health services research · 2023Article
- Emerging approaches to redressing multi-level racism and reproductive health disparities.NPJ digital medicine · 2022Article
- The Development, Implementation, and Evaluation of a Racism and Health Disparity Prevention Course for Midwives.Journal of midwifery & women's healthArticle
- Perspectives from Black Midwifery Leaders on Scaling Culturally Affirming and Community-Centered Models of Care.Health equityArticle
- The CHOICES Black Midwifery Fellowship: An Innovative Model for Training Midwives in Reproductive Justice and Community-Centered Care.Journal of midwifery & women's healthArticle
- Midwifery Students' Experiences of Bias in the Clinical Setting: Prevalence, Types, and Impact.Journal of midwifery & women's healthArticle
- Early Career Midwives' Recommendations to Improve Clinical Education: "Honestly, We Just Need to Do Better".Journal of midwifery & women's healthArticle
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo understand motivators and barriers of aspiring midwives of color. DATA SOURCES AND STUDY
settingPrimary data were collected via a national online survey among people of color in the United States interested in pursuing midwifery education and careers between February 22 and May 2, 2021. STUDY
designCross-sectional survey consisted of 76 questions (75 closed-ended and 1 open-ended questions) including personal, familial, community, and societal motivators and barriers to pursuing midwifery. DATA COLLECTION/EXTRACTION
methodsWe recruited respondents 18 years and older who identified as persons of color by posting the survey link on midwifery, childbirth, and reproductive justice listservs, social media platforms, and through emails to relevant midwifery and doula networks. We conducted descriptive and bivariate analyses by demographic characteristics and used exemplar quotes from the open-ended question to illustrate findings from the descriptive data. PRINCIPAL
findingsThe strongest motivating factors for the 799 respondents were providing racially concordant care for community members (87.7 percent), reducing racial disparities in health (67.2 percent), and personal experiences related to midwifery care (55.4 percent) and health care more broadly (54.6 percent). Main barriers to entering midwifery were direct (58.2 percent) and related (27.5 to 52.8 percent) costs of midwifery education, and lack of racial concordance in midwifery education and the midwifery profession (31.5 percent) that may contribute to racially motivated exclusion of people of color. Financial and educational barriers were strongest among those with lower levels of income or education.
conclusionsStructural and interpersonal racisms are both motivators and barriers for aspiring midwives of color. Expanding and diversifying the perinatal workforce by addressing the financial and educational barriers of aspiring midwives of color, such as providing funding and culturally-competent midwifery education, creating a robust pipeline, and opening more midwifery schools, is a matter of urgency to address the maternal health crisis.
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