TDNet Discover

Background: The word ‘doula’ originates from ancient Greek and translates to “someone who serves”. A birth doula is a professional labor assistant who provides physical and emotional support to a birthing person or couple during pregnancy, labor, birth, and postpartum. The most important role of a doula is to provide continuous care to the birthing person and their partner, as their responsibility is tied to them and not to the hospital, the midwife, the nurse, or the physician. Doulas offer evidence-based information to birthing couples, undivided emotional support, extensive physical nourishment to ensure comfort and safety, and advocacy to help the birthing person or couple find their voice. Objective: To determine if there is sufficient data suggesting that a woman having a doula during pregnancy decreases birth complications and shortens the birthing time. Methods: Researchers completed an evidence-based medicine literature review study design by searching databases such as PubMed, MEDLINE Complete, and Google Scholar using search phrases like “doula support birth,” “doulas,” “birth,” “doulas and birth outcomes,” and “doulas and birth complications”. The following limits were used: within the last 10 years, clinical trials, systematic review, controlled study, meta-analysis, retrospective cohort studies, case studies, access to full text, patients must be human, and studies that are written in English. The requirements for the study population were to include women who had given birth and had used a doula anytime throughout their pregnancy or postpartum. A duplicate search and review process were conducted to select included studies. A quality assessment, the level of evidence, and data extraction were utilized to qualitatively analyze each included article.