Understanding Doulas and Childbirth

Cheryl A. Hunter is Assistant Professor in the department of Educational Foundations and Research at the University of North Dakota, USA.  As a sociologist, her research focuses on micro-level analyses: educational interactions that happen between individuals and the different intercultural contexts in which those interactions arise. She considers herself a translational researcher, producing research that reaches the people of which it is intended in a practical way and contributes to improving their life experiences or professional practice.     Abby Hurst is a health care clinician and her research focuses on interprofessional communication between doulas and hospital-based maternity care providers.   Through her professional development and academic studies, she has slowly transitioned away from being a clinician based in the medical model, to being a patient advocate focused on the Shared Decision Making model.

• 1. Childbirth, Women, and Doulas .- 2. Nurses, Families, and Doulas: An Overview of Different Roles in Childbirth .- 3. Birthing with Doulas: The Embodied Birth Experience .- 4. Love and Advocacy in Childbirth .- 5. Conclusion