Improving the Quality of Prenatal Care for Low-Income, Urban, Black Women

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Project Summary/Abstract My long-term career goal is to become an independent leading scholar (with R01 funding) drawing on concepts and methods to improve prenatal care and maternal outcomes among Black women who are three times more likely than White women to die from preeclampsia, specifically early onset-preeclampsia (EOP), and other childbirth-related issues. Specifically, I desire to become a nationally recognized health disparities and implementation science researcher who: 1) identifies and disseminates implementation strategies to improve processes of prenatal care and 2) increases the uptake of evidence-based treatment to reduce disparities in maternal mortality faced by Black women. Training facilitated by this Mentored Career Development Award to Promote Faculty Diversity in Biomedical Research (K01) will provide me with the protected time to obtain the theoretical knowledge and methodological skills necessary to achieve my long-term career goal. My training goals will address the following content and methodological areas: 1) prenatal care treatment for preeclampsia, in general, 2) dissemination and implementation research, and 3) health disparities research. My mentors and I have developed a three- pronged strategy to achieve my career goals and ensure that my research training needs are met: 1) a strong, interdisciplinary team of mentors and collaborators who will guide my research and career development; 2) an innovative research project integrated with my training goals that is both scientifically relevant and rigorous in its design and methods; and 3) a schedule of didactic coursework, workshops, seminars, professional interactions, and shadowing in prenatal care clinics that build upon the existing resources of the University of Kansas School of Medicine-Wichita. My proposed research plan seeks to improve the processes of care for Black women by determining the barriers and facilitators to implementing evidence-based treatments to prevent preeclampsia, specifically EOP. The study's specific aims are to 1) examine the implementation of evidenced-based treatment with aspirin to reduce preeclampsia among high-risk women; 2) determine critical facilitators and barriers to aspirin implementation among providers; and 3) characterize patients' awareness and perceptions of preeclampsia and the use of aspirin for prevention. The proposed development plan will provide training, mentorship, and research experience that will strengthen the foundation for my career as an independent investigator committed to reducing health care disparities and improving birth outcomes for Black women.