Academic literature on the topic 'Cultural doula'

A qualitative study examined the perceptions of doulas practicing in Washington State regarding the influence of cultural and community beliefs on immigrant women’s birth and perinatal care, as well as their own cultural beliefs and values that may affect their ability to work interculturally. The findings suggest that doulas can greatly aid immigrant mothers in gaining access to effective care by acting as advocates, cultural brokers, and emotional and social support. Also, doulas share a consistent set of professional values, including empowerment, informed choice, cultural relativism, and scientific/evidence-based practice, but do not always recognize these values as culturally based. More emphasis on cultural self-awareness in doula training, expanding community doula programs, and more integration of doula services in health-care settings are recommended.

This article highlights the relationships among Chinese society, the discourse about doulas and doula care in childbirth, and Chinese women. The author used a critical feminist lens to analyze the discourse about doulas, doula care in childbirth, and women in Chinese mainstream news media. This analysis showed that the Chinese news media and government encouraged and promoted becoming a doula as a profession and doula care in labor in terms of cultural, social, and political factors. An argument was presented that these discourses obscure a nuanced understanding of Chinese women’s maternal health in general.

All women should be allowed and encouraged to bring a loved one, friend, or doula to their birth without financial or cultural barriers. Continuous labor support offers benefits to mothers and their babies with no known harm.

ABSTRACTEighteen identified motivations for attending a birth doula training workshop were ranked by 467 participants (466 females, 1 male) in 2010 and 2013. Participants selected a variety of reasons but only 30% chose to “become a professional doula” as their main reason. Another 20% wanted to “become a midwife.” Remaining participants selected 16 other professional and personal motivations, such as “increase birth knowledge,” “understand my own births,” “make future births better,” and “help women have better births (not as a professional).” One quarter had not attended a birth or had a child. Besides career training, these workshops are filling a cultural gap in childbirth education for people who are not expectant parents, and who intend to use this knowledge in unanticipated ways.

All women should be allowed and encouraged to bring a loved one, friend, or doula to their birth without financial or cultural barriers. Continuous labor support offers benefits to mothers and their babies with no known harm. This article is an updated evidence-based review of the “Lamaze International Care Practices that Promote Normal Birth, Care Practice #3: Continuous Labor Support,” published in The Journal of Perinatal Education, 16(3), 2007.

Syfte: Att belysa kulturdoulans erfarenheter av att möta nyanlända kvinnor före, under och efter förlossning. Design: En kvalitativ metod med induktiv ansats användes. Data insamlades genom kvalitativa semistrukturerade intervjuer och analyserades med kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Omgivning: Kvinnokliniken i en stad i norra Sverige. Deltagare: Kulturdoulor som kontinuerligt medverkade vid förlossningar. Resultat: Analysen resulterade i tre huvudkategorier: Kulturens inflytande, En drivkraft att hjälpa och att vilja utveckla sig själv, Kulturdoulan är en länk mellan språk och känslor Slutsats: Enligt kulturdoulan är hon en länk mellan språk och kultur. En kulturdoula har oftast fött barn själv samt bistått andra som fött barn. Genom sina egna erfarenheter och utbildning har hon goda kunskaper om förlossningsvård. Detta kombinerat med att kunna flera språk och att vara närvarande under hela förlossningen skapar enligt kulturdoulan en känsla av trygghet för kvinnan. Hon står alltid på kvinnans sida och gör sitt yttersta för att hon ska få en positiv upplevelse. Kulturdoulan kan ofta fylla rollen som en nära kvinnlig släkting eller vän. Kliniska implikationer: Antalet personer som söker asyl i Sverige förväntas vara fortsatt högt. Detta innebär att barnmorskor kommer att möta många kvinnor födda utanför Norden från olika kulturer. I Sverige är mödradödligheten låg men av dem som drabbas är utlandsfödda kvinnor i majoritet, vilket har visats till stor del bero på språkförbistringar. Kulturdoulaprojektet är relativt nytt och lokalt men förhoppning finns att projektet utökas till att i större utsträckning innefatta mödrahälsovården och tiden efter förlossningen samt få en större utbredning nationellt.<br>Objective: To illuminate the cultural doula’s experiences of meeting newly arrived women before, during and after childbirth. Design: A qualitative method with inductive approach was used. Data was collected through qualitative semistructured interviews and analyzed by qualitative content analysis. Settings: The womens clinic in a city in northern Sweden. Participants: Cultural doulas who continuously participated in childbirth. Findings: The analysis resulted in three main categories: The influence of culture, A driving force to help and wanting to develop oneself, The cultural doula is a link between language and emotions Key conclusions: According to the cultural doula, she is a link between language and culture. It is common that the cultural doula has given birth her self as well as assisted other in childbirth. Through her own experience and education she has good knowledge of care during childbirth. This combined with being able to talk several languages and being present throughout the the childbirth creates a sense of safety for the woman according to the cultural doula. She always take sides with the woman and does the utmost for her to have a positive experience. The cultural doula can often fill the role of a close female relative or friend. Implications for practice: The number of asylum seekers in Sweden is expected to remain at a high level. This will mean that midwives will meet many women born outside of Nordic countries from different cultures. The maternety mortality in Sweden is low, however, of those affected, women born abroad are in majority, which has been shown to be caused mostly by language barriers. The cultural doula project is relatively new and local but will hopefully expand to include the antenatal care and the period after the childbirth and to be more widely distributed nationally.

Ce travail de recherche, conduit entre 2011 et 2019, s’intéresse à la place de la culture dans les modes de gouvernement à Douala, à partir de l’étude de la question patrimoniale. A l’échelle de la ville, divers acteurs - institutionnels ou non - réinvestissent la notion de patrimoine. Leurs conceptions, leurs actions, leurs revendications patrimoniales participent à la production de la ville, et se réfèrent à des relectures dites « traditionnelles » ainsi qu’à des stratégies de rénovation urbaine. La « mise en patrimoine » et la « mise en art » des espaces publics libèrent la parole, dans une ville où toute forme de représentations matérielles ou symboliques de la mémoire a longtemps été interdite par l’État. Ces initiatives impliquent une négociation pour l’occupation de l’espace pouvant se référer à une histoire urbaine occultée. J’appréhende ce processus de construction de l’objet patrimonial par les divers acteurs en présence, ainsi que ses effets dans la production de l’espace urbain. L’étude des différents projets, mais aussi de leur articulation ou de leur concurrence, révèle une lecture des rapports de pouvoir et du gouvernement en ville. À travers la culture, l’affirmation d’une mémoire, et par là d’une légitimité, certains acteurs contrebalancent le pouvoir économique et le pouvoir politique à Douala pour se positionner dans l’espace urbain. En filigrane, mon travail vise à réfléchir aux enjeux de la construction d’un discours sur l’art en contexte autoritaire et à réinterroger d’une façon particulière les pouvoirs en ville. Ma thèse suit une approche qualitative. J’allie observations et entretiens auprès des pouvoirs publics, des élites, du monde associatif, des artistes et des habitants. Je m’appuie également sur la production et l’analyse d’images et de films, réalisés en collaboration avec plusieurs groupes d’artistes. Cette recherche s’organise en trois parties. Tout d’abord, la première partie traite de la place du patrimoine dans les plans d’aménagement successifs. Je présente un état de l’art en soulignant l’ouverture des normes de définition de la notion, ce qui me permet de revenir sur la place du patrimoine dans les politiques et les décisions en matière d’aménagement, en analysant les études et les plans de patrimonialisation existants. La deuxième partie s’intéresse à la place de la culture dans les jeux de pouvoir en ville. J’interroge les enjeux de pouvoir liés à l’affirmation de groupes dits « autochtones » dans l’espace urbain, grâce à l’usage du patrimoine. Il s’agit de faire le lien entre patrimoine, histoire et mémoire dans le contexte de Douala. Enfin, la dernière partie discute du rôle d’acteurs subalternes, de leur place dans le monde de l’art, ainsi que de leur possibilité de participer à la fabrique de la ville. Je pose la question plus large de la production de la culture dans le contexte autoritaire et néolibéral de Douala, en proposant d’étudier des initiatives hors-les-murs, et en questionnant leur devenir<br>This research, led between 2011 and 2019, focuses on the place of culture in the different way of government in Douala, regarding the study of the patrimonial issues. On the scale of the city, various actors – institutionalized or not – continually reinvest the concept of heritage. Their views, their actions, their patrimonial demands participate in the city development and refer to “traditional” re-readings urban renovation strategies. The “process of heritage” and the “process of putting art in public spaces” liberate speech, in a city where every kind of material or symbolic representation of memory has long been forbidden by the State. Those initiatives imply to negotiate for the occupation of space, possibly referring to conceal urban history. I look into the process of construction of heritage through the various actors operating, as well as its effects on the production of urban space. The study of different projects, also in their coordination or competition, shows power and government relationships in the city. Through culture, the assertion of memory, and thus of legitimacy, some actors offset the economical and the political power in Douala in order to position themselves in the urban space. My research reiterates the issue of developing a discourse on art, and its stakes, in an authoritarian political context, regarding the influence of the various actors involved in the city development. My thesis proposes a qualitative approach: interviews with public authorities, local elites, actors from the associative sector, artists and citizens, as well as observation on the field. To make a concrete analytical study, I refer to images and movies, collaboratively produced with numerous groups of artists. This research is divided into three parts. First, the place of heritage in the successive development plans. I present a state of the art and emphasize the opening of the notion definition standards. It allows me to go back on the place of heritage in the development policies and decisions, by analyzing the existing studies and heritage plans. The second part deals with the place of culture in the power relationships in the city and the assertion of groups called “autochthonous” in the urban space, through the use of heritage. This includes linking heritage, history and memory in the context of Douala. Finally, I refer to the role of subordinate actors, their place in the art world, as well as their ability to participate to the city development. I pose a broader issue of the production of culture in the neoliberal and authoritarian context of Douala, by offering to study off-site initiatives, and questioning their future

Etre mère est une aspiration pour de nombreuses femmes, même si à Douala, elles continuent de payer du lourd tribut de leur vie, l’accouchement. Paradoxalement, la réalité vécue par elles, enceintes et le personnel affecté à leur prise en charge reste méconnue ou ignorée par le grand public. Afin de comprendre ce phénomène, nous avons mené une enquête sur la base d’observation et d’entretiens avec les femmes enceintes, le personnel médical et paramédical et la parentèle de la parturiente de mars 2008 à décembre 2010 dans cinq établissements hospitaliers de la ville de Douala et ses environs. Cette recherche appréhende les éléments du discours pour re-construire le contexte anthropologique qu’il génère et dont il est le produit. Elle a permis de comprendre la contradiction entre la valorisation du statut de la parturiente et l’a-normalité des comportements pendant la parturition. Il en résulte un problème de concordance entre des attitudes culturellement marquées et des normes sanitaires. Les femmes, sans toutefois ignorer leur vulnérabilité et les conditions qui favorisent une fin heureuse de la grossesse, ne commencent que tardivement les consultations prénatales<br>Becoming a mother is the yearning of many women, even though in Douala, they continue to heavily pay with their very lives the act of childbirth. Paradoxically, the reality about what they go through while being pregnant, and the personnel assigned to manage them remains unrecognized or ignored by the general public. In order to understand this phenomenon, we carried out an enquiry based on observations and discussions with pregnant women, the medical/paramedical personnel, and the relatives of the parturient from March 2008 to December 2010, in five health institutions in the town of Douala. This research takes into account the various elements of discussion to rebuild the anthropological context generated by it, and of which it is also the product. It enables us to understand the contradiction between the valorisation of the parturient status, and the behavioural abnormalities during parturition. As a result, a concordance problem arises between the culturally marked attitudes, and the health norms. Though being vulnerable and aware of the conditions that favour a happy end of the pregnancy, the women still begin prenatal consultations late

<p>Until 1976, women in Alabama could choose to make use of a midwife when they gave birth. In that year, the Alabama state legislature outlawed the practice. This dissertation explores the consequences of that decision as well as the efforts of contemporary non-nurse midwives, also known as Certified Professional Midwives (CPM’s), to re-establish the practice as an option available to birthing women in the state.</p><p> In order to address the consequences of outlawing non-nurse midwives in the state of Alabama a mixed methodology approach is applied. Two years of ethnographic data collection approached with a feminist and cultural anthropology lens, reveal that the lack of medical infrastructure within the state of Alabama prohibits the ability for CPM’s to practice safely. This is owed to historically grounded stigma in racism and classism. As a result, the current CPM community within the state of Alabama, along with their clientele, is predominantly white. This is reflected in the case studies within the dissertation as all the families and care providers, regardless of clinical expertise, are all white. An examination of cesarean rates via quantitative analysis supports the historical and ethnographic findings. Cesarean rates are highest within counties that have a low median household income, and a population that is predominately African American.</p><p> The dissertation features five case studies of women who gave birth attended by a CPM. By relating the experiences of the birthing mothers, a CPM, and certified medical professionals, the dissertation offers evidence of the kind of supplemental medical care and knowledge that can be offered by practitioners of midwifery. At the same time, while contemporary midwives such as the one featured here offer important medical service to their clients, they are not equipped to or knowledgeable about political work necessary to push for the re-legalization of midwifery. This dissertation thus sheds light on the challenges facing midwives who would prefer to work openly and legally in the state.</p><p> Ultimately what is revealed is the value of supplementary healthcare networks within the state. While care and birth services provided by CPM’s is not readily accessible to all, those giving birth in Alabama can find support within the current system through supplementary healthcare networks. These networks include doulas, lactation support groups, babywearing groups, etc. It is a piecemeal system to be sure, but it is a piecemeal system that is working diligently to unlearn biases, and support women and birthing families. However, it is important to understand that the supplemental networks cannot fully address the larger structural crisis that is a lack of infrastructure within the state’s medical system. Ideally, a system that utilizes Obstetricians, Nurse Midwives, and Non-nurse Midwives, all with mutual respect for their own expertise, would exist to provide quality care to women throughout the state.</p>

In Birthing Black Mothers Black feminist theorist Jennifer C. Nash examines how the figure of the “Black mother” has become a powerful political category. “Mothering while Black” has become synonymous with crisis as well as a site of cultural interest, empathy, fascination, and support. Cast as suffering and traumatized by their proximity to Black death—especially through medical racism and state-sanctioned police violence—Black mothers are often rendered as one-dimensional symbols of tragic heroism. In contrast, Nash examines Black mothers’ self-representations and public performances of motherhood—including Black doulas and breastfeeding advocates alongside celebrities such as Beyoncé, Serena Williams, and Michelle Obama—that are not rooted in loss. Through cultural critique and in-depth interviews, Nash acknowledges the complexities of Black motherhood outside its use as political currency. Throughout, Nash imagines a Black feminist project that refuses the lure of locating the precarity of Black life in women and instead invites readers to theorize, organize, and dream into being new modes of Black motherhood.

The objective of this study is to highlight the effects of ethnic, linguistic, and religious diversity on business sustainability in Cameroon. To achieve this objective, the authors used data from a survey conducted in the cities of Douala and Yaoundé by the Laboratory for Research in Fundamental and Applied Economics (LAREFA) of the University of Dschang. Using a censored Tobit model, the following results were obtained: (1) Ethnic diversity and linguistic diversity each have a positive effect on the sustainability of Cameroonian companies. However, when the linguistic diversity index is too high, its effect becomes significantly negative. (2) Whatever its level, religious diversity has a negative effect on the sustainability of Cameroonian companies.

The objective of this study is to highlight the effects of ethnic, linguistic, and religious diversity on business sustainability in Cameroon. To achieve this objective, the authors used data from a survey conducted in the cities of Douala and Yaoundé by the Laboratory for Research in Fundamental and Applied Economics (LAREFA) of the University of Dschang. Using a censored Tobit model, the following results were obtained: (1) Ethnic diversity and linguistic diversity each have a positive effect on the sustainability of Cameroonian companies. However, when the linguistic diversity index is too high, its effect becomes significantly negative. (2) Whatever its level, religious diversity has a negative effect on the sustainability of Cameroonian companies.