RE:BIRTH: Navigating and Mediating Maternal Stress and Birth Outcomes in Pre- and Post-hurricane Puerto Rico
Wednesday, November 8, 2017
Oregon State University researchers Holly Horan and Melissa Cheyney will report on their research project, funded by the National Science Foundation. They will provide information about methods for assessing perceived and measurable maternal stress, particularly within the context of a colonized nation that has a complex and insufficient maternal and infant health care system. In addition, Horan and Cheyney, along with Puerto Rico midwife and founder of Centro MAM, Vanessa Caldari, will discuss the normal physiologic birth efforts in Puerto Rico as a counter-movement to the existing biomedical system on the island along with the roles Puerto Rican midwives and doulas are playing in the aftermath of hurricane Maria.
This webinar will provide midwives with information about the effects of maternal stress on gestational outcomes, as well as the impact of midwives and doulas as mediators of that stress. The webinar will conclude with a discussion of opportunities for the support of Puerto Rican midwives who are on the ground providing care for mothers and babies amid post-hurricane devastation.
Melissa Cheyney, Ph.d, CPM, LDM, is Associate Professor of Clinical Medical Anthropology at Oregon State University (OSU) with additional appointments in Public Health and Women Gender and Sexuality Studies. She is also a Licensed Midwife in active practice, and the Chair of the Division of Research for the Midwives Alliance of North America where she directs the MANA Statistics Project. Dr. Cheyney currently directs the International Reproductive Health Laboratory at Oregon State University where she serves as the primary investigator more than 20 maternal and infant health-related research projects in nine countries. She is the author of an ethnography entitled Born at Home (2010, Wadsworth Press) along with dozens of peer-reviewed articles that examine the cultural beliefs and clinical outcomes associated with midwife-led birth at home in the United States. Dr. Cheyney is an award-winning teacher, and in 2014 was given Oregon State University’s prestigious Scholarship Impact Award for her work in the International Reproductive Health Laboratory and with the MANA Statistics Project. She is the mother of a daughter born at home on International Day of the Midwife in 2009.
Holly Horan, MA, has a masters degree in Medical Anthropology, is a practicing birth and postpartum doula and a doctoral candidate at Oregon State University (OSU) in the Applied Medical Anthropology program. Her research focuses on perceived maternal stress and gestational age at delivery in Puerto Rico and she is an active member of current midwifery collaborations between OSU and Puerto Rican parteras. Holly has been a Data Doula for the MANA (Midwives Alliance of North America) Statistics Project and she is a member of the MANA Stats 4.0 Validation study, the MANA PR project. She is involved in a variety of other maternal and infant health projects in Puerto Rico and Oregon.