“We Experience What They Experience”: Black Nurses’ and Community Health Workers’ Reflections on Providing Culturally Specific Perinatal Health Care

Authors: Roberta Hunte, Gita R Mehrotra, Susanne Klawetter

The purpose of this study was to better understand the well-being of perinatal health workers within Black communities. A focus group was conducted with seven nurses and community health workers (CHWs), and uncovered several themes relating to shared lived experiences between providers and clients, complex dynamics underscoring interactions with clients and medical systems, and the unique, holistic nature of approaches taken by HBI nurses and CHWs to providing perinatal care grounded in reproductive justice principles. While these findings revealed strengths and complexities facing Black nurses and CHWs in their roles, they also indicate that more work is needed in education, practice, and research to better prepare and support nurses and CHWs in culturally specific settings.