Cultural Apathy: The #1 Killer of the African American Mothers and Infants

Abstract

By Chenoa Dickson, Nursing; Brittany Morgan, Nursing; Olivia Mack, Nursing

Advisor: Rosalind Moore

Abstract: Peripartum black women are dying at an alarming rate in the United States, however, there is not nearly as high of a mortality rate for black women in other countries. Black women in the United States are more than two and a half times more likely to die of a pregnancy-related condition than white women. These problems can be reflected in the accessibility of healthcare and treatment of black women during the prenatal, intrapartum, and postpartum periods. A lot of these problems boil down to the lack of education healthcare providers have on the culture of African American women, which results in a lack of communication and uncomfortable women. The purpose of our educational project is to educate healthcare providers on the culture nd needs of African American women, resulting in a holisitc patient-centered care. We created an educational session presented to healthcare providers at Mercy Fairfield's Birthing Center on what African American women complained of most, what they expected from healthcare providers, and wht they enjoyed from the peripartum experience. At the end of the educational project, we gave the participants a questionnaire to evaluate the success of the project in education the healthcare providers on new knowledge of peripartum African American women.