We are now embarking on a new phase of this work!

With support from the South Carolina Center for Rural and Primary Healthcare (CRPH), we are expanding the Voices/Voces work through a project entitled Supporting Providers on a Path Toward Maternal Health Equity: Creating and Implementing the Voices/Voces Toolkit. Strengthening the delivery of respectful maternity care (RMC) is at the cornerstone of this work, which includes supporting health care providers to address implicit bias, foster patient autonomy and dignity, and implement shared decision-making as important actions toward improving care and having a positive impact on maternity outcomes.

Voices/Voces Advisory Committee

We would like to thank the Voices/Voces Advisory Committee members for contributing their expertise and service to this work.

Who Do We Aim to Reach?

Clinical and Community Providers (CCPs), primarily those serving SC’s rural-based populations with OB care. CCPs include those who offer clinical care, doulas, and perinatal community health workers (CHWs). OB care includes prenatal, birthing, and postpartum care services, offered both in clinical sites and community settings. It can also occur in some rural communities without a labor and delivery unit, and may include family medicine and ED providers.

Why?

Analysis of the interviews with OB patients, transformed into a theatrical performance, revealed how implicit bias was manifested among CCPs and had an impact on the experiences of pregnancy, birthing, and postpartum for low-income Women of Color in SC.

Two-Year Project Goals (July 2024 - July 2026)

• Goal 1: Support CCPs to explore and address implicit bias and strengthen person-centered RMC in OB practice.
• Goal 2: Carry out workshops with CCPs serving primarily rural populations with OB care using Toolkit materials and methods.
• Goal 3: Discussion and collaboration fostered among South Carolina-based partners about addressing implicit bias and strengthening person-centered RMC in OB practice.
• Goal 4: Toolkit and related materials finalized for local, state, and national dissemination.
• Goal 5: Toolkit and related materials disseminated to and through local, state, and national partners including use of social media, radio spots, presentations and publications.
• Goal 6: Ongoing communication fostered and maintained with CRPH and among IFS staff and partners about project activities and progress.

The research that formed the genesis of these materials was conceptualized and supervised by Ana López - De Fede, PhD, Research Professor & Associate Director of the Institute for Families in Society in the College of Social Work (COSW) at USC. Under Dr. López - DeFede’s leadership, IFS provided financial support for this research-based theatrical performance and the final development into an online series of learning materials.

Deborah Billings, PhD, Faculty Affiliate and Researcher with IFS, led the original research and a multidisciplinary, multilingual team that made this work possible, as part of a contract partially funded by the SC Department of Health and Human Services.

Alyssa Robillard, PhD, Faculty Affiliate with IFS at USC, and Associate Professor at Edson College, Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, Arizona State University conducted interviews and collaborated on analysis and dissemination of Voices|Voces findings.

Chloe Rodriguez Ramos, MPH, Research Associate/Policy Analyst with IFS at USC, conducted interviews and collaborated on analysis and dissemination of Voices|Voces findings.

Patti Walker, MFA, Senior Instructor, Speech Communication & Rhetoric, Department of English Language and Literature (College of Arts and Sciences) at USC, adapted the Voices|Voces content to create and direct the Voices|Voces performance.

These videos linked below also can be found on our YouTube Channel.

Transcripts of the monologues are available for download in both English (EN) and Español (ESP).