When race and agency collide: examining pregnant black women’s experiences in healthcare

ABSTRACT

Black women are disproportionately affected by racial disparities in maternal healthcare. Using critical race theory and the agency-identity model, this study examined how pregnant Black women communicated agency and perceived the impact of race in interactions with medical practitioners. Thirty Black women were interviewed about how they communicated with U.S. medical practitioners during pregnancy. Their responses revealed they used preemptive stereotype shields, self-agency, and information seeking on digital platforms to enhance interactions with practitioners. Also, some women argued for race-centered care and offered insights to Black mothers and to medical practitioners. Conversely, some women were uncertain about the effect of race on their care, while others wanted complete racial neutrality in their treatment. Nevertheless, this study indicates that race impacts maternal healthcare and expands understanding of stereotype threat, the sociocultural agency identity, and racial neutrality. Finally, the study may be used to support future health communication interventions regarding maternal care.

KEYWORDS:

• Black maternal care
• racism
• stereotype threat
• racial neutrality
• agency

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank undergraduate research assistants, Imani Council, and Ronnautica Dixon for their contributing analyses and the reviewers for their generous feedback that helped to strengthen the study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 We use ‘mothers’ and ‘women’ to describe pregnant individuals. However, we recognize that people of various gender identities, including transgender, nonbinary, and cisgender individuals, give birth and receive maternity care.

2 Transcriptions of the recorded interviews were conducted by www.rev.com, an online transcription business. The transcriptions were checked for accuracy. Nonverbal information from interviews recorded via Zoom were not recorded.

3 The study was wholly funded by the Central States Communication Association’s Federation Research Prize.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Kallia O. Wright

Kallia O. Wright (Ph.D., Ohio University) is an Assistant Professor in the School of Communication at the University of Miami. Her research explores how cultural values and belief systems impact communication about health at the individual level, especially communication about the health and wellbeing of women of color.

Soroya Julian McFarlane

Soroya Julian McFarlane (Ph.D., University of Miami) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication Studies at the University of Georgia. Her research focuses on designing and evaluating communication interventions that address health disparities at the community level.

Diane B. Francis

Diane B. Francis (Ph.D., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Kentucky. Her work focuses on the role of communication in promoting healthy behaviors, reducing health disparities, and advancing health equity.