ACURE4Moms

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, Momma’s Village Fayetteville, and Sistas Caring 4 Sistas.

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.

Email us with any questions – Dr. Jennifer Tang at jennifer_tang@med.unc.edu.

For the latest updates about the ACURE4Moms study and related work in North Carolina, please subscribe to our listserv.

ACURE4Moms in the News

• 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 2^nd 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.“

There are many doula and community-based organizations joining this study. Two primary Doula group partners are Sistas Caring 4 Sistas Asheville and Momma’s Village Fayetteville. Learn more about the doula groups and meet our doula teams below.

For this study, there will be an intervention will match community-based doulas who are trained to provide culturally relevant care with high-risk patients after their first prenatal appointment. Two community-based co-investigators – Cindy McMillan, a certified doula and the executive director of Sistas Caring 4 Sistas Asheville, and Angela Tatum Malloy, a certified doula and the founder and CEO of Momma’s Village Fayetteville – will help facilitate the training of doulas that will be needed for the expansive study, and will provide support to the doulas working with clinics in their communities. The doulas will provide support to patients during pregnancy and up to one year after birth by setting up peer support groups for clients with similar due dates, attending two prenatal visits with them, supporting them for up to 24 hours during labor, and performing a postpartum home visit.

Click to learn more about our Doula and Doula groups.

For clinic partners and ACURE4Moms teams, we have created monthly slideshow reports to highlight progress and share information related to our work. Check back regularly to review the latest information about our work.

• March 2023 & Black Maternal Health Week Happenings – Download PDF slides.
• February 2023 Updates – Download PDF slides.
• January 2023 Update – Download PDF slides.
• November 2022 Update – Download PDF slides.
• October 2022 Update -Download PDF slides.
• September 2022 Update – Download PDF slides.

Do you have something you’d like to share or feature among our ACURE4Moms network? Email SuzanneW@med.unc.edu with details and support promoting your work.

For questions or details, contact ACURE4Moms@med.unc.edu.

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.

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Do you have something you’d like to share or feature among our ACURE4Moms network? Email SuzanneW@med.unc.edu with details.

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