African American Adolescent Mothers’ Childbirth Support From Fathers, Grandmothers, Nurses, Doctors, and Doulas

Abstract

The morning after giving birth in a large urban hospital, 121 African American adolescents participating in a community doula program identified the people who had been with them during labor and birth and narrated their birth stories. Besides medical providers, the people most likely to be present for the birth were the infants’ fathers (n = 73, 60%), the mothers’ mothers (n = 70, 58%), and their doulas (n = 100, 83%). Birth stories were coded to identify types of support provided by different people. Mothers’ mothers, infants’ fathers, and doulas were more likely to be mentioned in the stories as providers of emotional and instrumental support than were medical providers. Doulas were more likely to be mentioned as providers of information than were family members or medical providers.