The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has designed a study called ACURE4Moms to improve pregnancy outcomes and decrease health disparities. “ACURE” stands for “Accountability for Care through Undoing Racism and Equity.”
ACURE4Moms is a randomized controlled trial that aims to improve maternal health outcomes, satisfaction, and communication, particularly for Black moms.
ACURE4Moms is led by a team of clinicians, Community-Based Doulas, and researchers from across NC, including team members from UNC School of Medicine, Mountain Area Health Education Center (MAHEC), North Carolina Area Health Education Centers (AHEC), N.C. Department of Information Technology, RJ Squared, Momma’s Village Fayetteville, and MAAME, Inc.
This study is led by a stakeholder advisory board, which includes patients of color who have had a pregnancy complication, community doulas, practice representatives, health insurance payers, patient advocacy group MomsRising, the North Carolina OB-GYN Society, the North Carolina Chapter of the American College of Nurse-Midwives, and the North Carolina Department of Public Health.
In the News
For the latest updates about the ACURE4Moms study and related work in North Carolina, please subscribe to our listserv by emailing ACURE4Moms@med.unc.edu.
ACURE4Moms in the News
- NC moms speak out on medical neglect in high-risk pregnancies https://www.publicnewsservice.org/2024-10-09/reproductive-health/nc-moms-speak-out-on-medical-neglect-in-high-risk-pregnancies/a92764-1#google_vignette
- A big congratulations to Momma’s Village Fayetteville on being featured in a recent news article, which includes Angela Malloy, Jasmine Johnson, Taylor Johnson, Regine Lesane, and Diara Fitzgerald: Inside Angela Tatum Malloy’s nonprofit Momma’s Village – CityView NC
- Dr. Jennifer Tang, MD UNC Professor of OB-GYN and Co-Principal Investigator of the ACURE4Moms study was featured in “The Skimm” focusing on When do you need to seek a second OB-GYN opinion? Read more here Would you use AI to parent? | theSkimm
- Families in Durham and surrounding areas were gearing up for a momentous occasion as MAAME, Inc. announces its first-ever Black Maternal Health Walk, Run, and Stroll event March 7th, 2024. Walk4MAAME – MAAME, Inc. (maameinc.org)
- Angela Tatum Malloy was celebrated at NC Woman of the Year, with an ACURE4Mom mention in her USA Today interview. Read more here. Angela also held interviews with Bronco Radio and a local podcast. See Momma’s Village Fayetteville Facebook for the latest sources.
- Dr. Rachel Urrutia in the Press this Month: Birth control methods that use one hormone raise breast cancer risk as much as those with a combo, study finds – Rachel Urrutia in ABC News – read here. And a 2nd article: Is It Possible To Get Pregnant While You Are In Perimenopause?, Rachel Urrutia in Glam: Read More here.
- CDC reports a slight decline in fetal mortality among Black women, Angela Malloy, Momma’s Village Fayetteville in ABC 11
- ‘We are not thought of’: The true impact of Western North Carolina’s maternal desert on rural women, Dr. Rachel Urrutia in Carolina Public News
- Critical Term: Why are Black mothers and babies dying, WRAL News
- Dr. Rachel Urrutia on why many pregnant women are seeking care at urgent and emergency departments, NC Health News
- Black Issues Forum | Black Women’s Maternal Choices and Health, Dr. Jen Tang in PBS
- UNC Researchers Embark on Statewide Effort to Reduce Racial Disparities, Improve Maternal Health Outcomes for Black Moms, North Carolina Health News
- Addressing Taboo Topics: Racial Inequities in Maternal Care, ChapelBoro News
- More Than Half of U.S. Women Have Poor Heart Health, Everyday Health
- UNC Researchers Awarded $10 Million from PCORI to Study, UNC Health and School of Medicine
- Sistas Caring 4 Sistas team was featured in Goldman Sachs “One Million Black Woman: Black Impact Grants.“
About the Study – Background
About the ACURE4Moms Study
Accountability for Care through Undoing Racism and Equity for Moms, or ACURE4Moms, is working to decrease pregnancy complications for all women, centering Black women, by addressing institutional racism and bias in healthcare and improving community-based social support during pregnancy. The study, which will involve 40 prenatal practices across North Carolina and a team of co-investigators, will attempt to do so using two types of interventions.
ACURE4Mom Primary Aims:
- Aim 1: Compare the proportion of Black women who deliver a low birthweight baby between Arms (Primary Outcome).
- Aim 2: Compare number of ED visits and hospitalizations during pregnancy and up to 1 year after delivery between Arms.
- Aim 3: Explore trends in self-reported racism during pregnancy and up to 4 months after delivery between Arms through patient surveys.
We will evaluate clinical interventions through a cluster randomized controlled trial of 40 practices throughout North Carolina. Ten practices each will be randomized to one of four arms:
- 1) Standard Care Management (Control Arm) – 10 practices
- 2) Data Interventions-Only (Data Arm) – 10 practices
- 3) Community-Based Doula Support-Only (Doula Arm) – 10 practices
- 4) Data Interventions + Doula Support (Data+Doula Arm) – 10 practices
You can find additional details about the technical support and study here.
Contact ACURE4Moms@med.unc.edu.
Background
“We are using methods from previous studies that have shown to improve outcomes, and applying them to maternal care,” Tang said. “By creating data accountability and electronic warning systems, the ACCURE trial for breast and lung cancer patients, performed in partnership between UNC and the Greensboro Health Disparities Collaborative, achieved better outcomes for all patients, and markedly reduced the disparity in outcomes between Black and white patients.”
Learn more about the ACCURE study.
Patient Surveys & Interviews
Join the Maternal Healthcare Experience Survey
The ACURE4Moms project is looking for volunteers to share their feedback on their recent healthcare experiences. You may be eligible to participate in our survey if you’re receiving pregnancy care at one of our participating clinics. If you agree to join:
- You will complete up to four surveys during and after your pregnancy.
- You will receive a $20 gift card for each completed survey.
- You may be contacted for a one-time interview at the end of your pregnancy.
- You will receive an additional $50 gift card if you complete the interview.
- Additional $20 gift card for completing surveys 1 and 2.
- Participants who complete all surveys available them will be entered into a drawing based on chance in which each participant has equal odds of receiving one of at least 25 additional $500 gift cards.
You can do all the surveys online, or over the phone with a study staff member. Each survey will take 10-20 minutes if done online, or about 45 minutes if done over the phone. The interview will take place over Zoom and will take about 30 minutes.
We know that patients who identify as Black experience discrimination during pregnancy care in North Carolina and the United States. Sadly, this means that Black patients are more likely to have bad outcomes during pregnancy, childbirth, or in the year after having their babies. ACURE4Moms was created to understand the experiences from patients like you. We hope that this project leads to improved outcomes for patients who identify as Black and others.
To be eligible to take part in the surveys and interview, you must be:
- Black or African American
- 15 years old or older
- Between 14 and 23 weeks of pregnancy
- English, Spanish, or French speaker
Additional qualifiers may apply, including accessibility to a phone or web-based platform. You must be receiving pregnancy care at one of our participating clinics.
A community-based member of the ACURE4Moms team working with your clinic will reach out to you to schedule a time to talk about the surveys and interviews. This team member will ask you some questions to see if you are eligible and will tell you more about the project. If you are eligible and you want to join, the team member will then ask for your consent to join.
You can choose whether you want to participate or not. Your choice is confidential and will not be shared beyond the ACURE4Moms team. Your choice will not change your care from the clinic.
ACURE4Moms’s goal is to sign up about 4,400 people across North Carolina in the survey and to interview about 100 people. Everyone’s survey and interview responses will be grouped together, and the study team will review the responses to see if the two ACURE4Moms programs had an impact on discrimination, medical care, and emotional experiences during and after pregnancy.
Like most research projects, ACURE4Moms will share its findings through conferences and publications. Your personal information will not be used in any report or presentation. Instead, your responses will be grouped with other responses.
If you’re interested in receiving updates about what we learn from the project, including the surveys and interview, please complete this form.
ACURE4Moms is a research study trying to reduce:
- low birthweight babies
- emergency department visits and hospitalizations for birthing persons and their babies
- depression among birthing people
- discrimination in pregnancy-related care
ACURE4Moms is trying out 2 programs designed by people who have given birth. These programs include:
- Sharing patient data and warning alerts with clinic staff to keep them accountable for their patients’ outcomes and providing tools to help them reduce bias in care.
- Matching eligible patients with doulas from the same community as the patients.
ACURE4Moms randomly chose prenatal clinics to receive one, both, or neither of these programs. After each clinic has tried these programs for 2 years, we will see how the programs worked.
