Doulas as Environmental Educators and Partners Study

Compared to other racial/ethnic groups, non-Hispanic black women have significantly higher concentrations of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) found in personal care products, including phthalates and parabens These EDCs are linked to a variety of adverse reproductive health outcomes that range from early puberty to preterm birth to hot flashes-all conditions that disproportionately impact black women and their long-term health.

Pregnancy is a particularly sensitive window of exposure to EDCs due to normal physiologic changes that alter the body's lipid and glucose metabolism, vasculature, inflammatory, and coagulation responses. Sadly, pregnancy holds some of the most shocking racial/ethnic health disparities, including a 50% increased risk of preterm birth, up to 2-fold increased risk of preeclampsia, and 3-fold increased risk of maternal mortality. Gaps in health care access have been documented as important contributors to these adverse health outcomes, but little research has evaluated the critical gap in environmental health information, particularly information linked to knowledge, awareness, and action related to EDC exposures. In black pregnant people, doulas have increasingly served an important role in filling health care gaps by providing access, advocacy, support, and education at this sensitive window. Yet, doulas often are not equipped to provide key environmental health information around chemical exposures that are higher in black women. If doulas' environmental health literacy of personal care product EDCs linked to adverse pregnancy outcomes was improved, then pregnant people in their care could benefit from reduced exposure to these chemicals and improved pregnancy outcomes. With this, the investigators intend to leverage the supportive advocacy and educational role doulas provide to black pregnant people to improve EDC environmental health literacy by partnering with Black Millennials 4 Flint organization to 1) educate doulas on EDCs; 2) utilize this newly gained knowledge in a clinical setting for doulas to counsel pregnant people on personal care product EDC chemicals; 3) measure environmental health literacy in doulas and the pregnant people they counsel; 4) evaluate urinary phthalate metabolite concentrations before and after the intervention. To conduct this intervention, the investigators will leverage a personal care product EDC module developed by the Harvard Chan's Environmental Reproductive Justice Lab (PI: Dr. Tamarra James-Todd). The investigators will also utilize an environmental health literacy questionnaire, as well as other previously validated quantitative and qualitative data collection tools. The aims of this project are:

Aim 1: Determine the extent to which an environmental health literacy educational intervention designed for doulas improves their environmental health literacy of EDCs in personal care products Hypothesis 1a. Doulas who participate in an environmental health literacy course will have a higher environmental health literacy score based on quantitative questionnaire evaluation post-course compared to pre-course Hypothesis 1b. Doulas who participate in the environmental health literacy course will have a higher environmental health literacy scores post-course compared to doulas who do not take the environmental health literacy course Aim 2: Determine the extent to which pregnant people counseled by doulas with training in environmental health literacy have higher environmental health literacy scores and lower usage of personal care products containing EDCs following doula counseling Hypothesis 2a. Compared to pregnant people not counseled by doulas on EDCs in personal care products, pregnant individuals counseled by doulas on these EDCs will have improved scores in environmental health literacy Hypothesis 2b. Compared to pregnant people not counseled by doulas on EDCs in personal care products, pregnant individuals receiving counseling will use fewer personal care products associated with containing EDCs based on a validated questionnaire Aim 3: Determine whether concentrations of EDC biomarkers decreased after the intervention for the intervention group.

Hypothesis 3: Urinary phthalate metabolite concentrations will be lower post-course compared to pre-course for the intervention group.