Hi everyone, so in this video, we're going to talk about doula support. By the end of this

video, you'll be able to describe the doula role and the evidence on doula support, discuss why

doulas are effective, and discuss the controversy about doula advocacy and the traumatic stress that

doulas can experience. A doula is a person who is trained

in labor support. And importantly, a doula provides continuous support that includes emotional

support, comfort measures, information, reassurance, and the doula also helps facilitate communication between the birthing person and their

partner and the family and the health care team or the medical team. However, the key word here

is continuous support. This is a variable, but this variable that's been found to make a difference

in obstetric outcomes. In the evidence-based birth

article about doulas, we talk about what doulas typically do not do. They're typically not medical

professionals, although we do have quite a few nurses and midwives in our professional

membership and instructor program who are also trained as doulas.

Dulus do not perform clinical tasks as part of their role, such as fetal heart monitoring.

They're not able to give medical advice or diagnose conditions.

They're not trained in diagnosing abnormalities.

They're not supposed to judge you for the decisions that you make. They do not replace

the birth partner. They don't catch the baby and they should not let their personal values

or biases get in the way of their care for you. For example, they should not pressure you

into making any decisions just because that's what they prefer as the

dula. So how many people use a dula? When we look at research from the United States,

about 6% of u.s. women had a dula present at their birth in 2012. That is up from 3% in 2006.

However, when listening to mothers three survey researchers asked women who did not have

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