Analysis on the Doula’s Influence in Childbirth Care at a Maternity
Abstract
Background
Childbirth and labor, in the past decades, have been suffering modifications towards the increasing necessity of humanization at labor and childbirth practices. The doulas have been presenting a important role in women’s support with good results in some countries. This article intends to analyze the implementation of a voluntary doula’s program at a large maternity in Brazil’s public health system.
Methods
A quantitative, cross-sectional study was realized between June, 2015, and March, 2016. The presence or absence of the doula’s support was considered along side the labor type, pain medications use, oxytocin use and skin-to-skin contact between mother and child. It was also analyzed women’s satisfaction and the correlation with the doula’s support. Pearson's chi-squared test and a 0,05 statistical significance was used.
Findings
A statistic association between the doula’s support and a decrease in cesarean sections number was found. Considering women with vaginal deliveries, a statistic association between the presence of the doulas and a increase in skin-to-skin contact and women satisfaction was reported. No significant correlation between the doulas and the use of pain medications, oxytocin use and episiotomy was found.
Conclusions
The results tend to related the presence of the doulas with some good practices indicators, matching researches in other countries. Regardless of the cross-sectional study limitations, the presence of the voluntary doula’s program is perceived as satisfactory.
Keywords

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access and Benefits of Publishing Open Access).