University of Massachusetts Amherst

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Lucinda Canty

Associate Professor, Elaine Marie College of Nursing

Involvement: 

School or College: 

Elaine Marie College of Nursing

Bio: 

Dr. Lucinda Canty is a certified nurse-midwife, Associate Professor of Nursing, and Director of the Seedworks Health Equity in Nursing Program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Dr. Canty has provided reproductive health care for over 30 years. Her research interests include the prevention of maternal mortality and severe maternal morbidity, reducing racial and ethnic health disparities in reproductive health, promoting diversity in nursing, and eliminating racism in nursing and midwifery. She uses her lived experience as a Black woman, a historical perspective, her poetry, art, and her research into racial disparities to offer a reproductive justice lens to improve racial disparities in maternal health. She founded Lucinda’s House, a Black Maternal Health Collective, to promote maternal health equity through community collaboration and programs that provide support and education.

Research Proposal Title: 

A Community-Based maternal health initiative built on assets to improve outcomes of racially diverse pregnant and birthing families

Research: 

The proposed research study will center on the voices of pregnant and birthing people of color and their families to understand what is needed in their communities to support themselves, their families, and their communities in maintaining their health and wellness throughout the perinatal period. Through a mixed method approach, informed by Community Participatory Research and van Manen’s Interpretive Phenomenology, we will develop, implement, and evaluate a community initiative to address maternal health equity. Using a group prenatal care model that includes culturally relevant prenatal content, the program will support pregnant and birthing families from pregnancy up to one year postpartum. In addition, the group model of care will provide mental health support, health education for anticipatory guidance, and resources throughout pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum.