African American Women’s Maternal Healthcare Experiences: A Critical Race Theory Perspective

ABSTRACT

Black women are experiencing pregnancy-related complications at a significantly higher rate than women of other races in the U.S., as Black women are three to four times likely to die from pregnancy-related complications compared to non-Hispanic White women. Structural barriers and different forms of marginalization continue to limit Black women’s access to quality healthcare services. Through critical race theory, we examine what structural barriers exist in the U.S. healthcare system, one that limits access to quality care during their prenatal and postnatal doctor’s visits. Using qualitative in-depth interviews, 31 African American women, living in Milwaukee, WI, shared their pregnancy stories. The emergent themes include, institutionalized care – racially insensitive biomedical approach, race and class – unfair treatment based on health insurance, and race as a social concept – dismissed pain concerns because you are a strong Black woman. These themes reveal the experience of racial discrimination toward African American women through healthcare [communicative] practices that are often times seen as “standard” practices, albeit marginalizing minority populations. Findings from this study offer insights for healthcare providers on communicative practices that foster a racially-safe healthcare environment for African American women.

Notes

1. In this study, we do not use the terms “Black” and “African American” interchangeably. Whenever the term “Black” is used, we are referencing all people of African descent, including African Americans, while the use of African Americans specifically speaks to African Americans in the United States (See American Psychological Association, 2019, p. 143).

2. This is a type of healthcare delivery that displays healthcare disparities based on racial differences, especially between Black and white patients (Goodman et al., 2016).

3. We conducted a pilot study to explore if both Black immigrant women and African American women share similar maternal care experiences. The findings showed that African American women’s experiences are different from that of Black immigrant women. We included the data of the African American women who participated in the pilot

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Department of Communication, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee [N/A].