{"id":11613,"date":"2026-05-18T16:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/familymedicine.uw.edu\/chws\/?p=11613"},"modified":"2026-05-27T17:41:44","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T17:41:44","slug":"uw-medicine-newsroom-highlights-uw-chws-study-on-maternal-health-workforce-support","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/familymedicine.uw.edu\/chws\/2026\/05\/18\/uw-medicine-newsroom-highlights-uw-chws-study-on-maternal-health-workforce-support\/","title":{"rendered":"UW Medicine Newsroom Highlights UW CHWS Study on Maternal Health Workforce Support"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/newsroom.uw.edu\/news-releases\/study-ties-states-birth-outcomes-to-workforce-support\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-11614\" src=\"https:\/\/familymedicine.uw.edu\/chws\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2026\/05\/UW-Medicine-Newsroom-300x170.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"170\" srcset=\"https:\/\/familymedicine.uw.edu\/chws\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2026\/05\/UW-Medicine-Newsroom-300x170.png 300w, https:\/\/familymedicine.uw.edu\/chws\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2026\/05\/UW-Medicine-Newsroom-1024x580.png 1024w, https:\/\/familymedicine.uw.edu\/chws\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2026\/05\/UW-Medicine-Newsroom-768x435.png 768w, https:\/\/familymedicine.uw.edu\/chws\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2026\/05\/UW-Medicine-Newsroom-1536x870.png 1536w, https:\/\/familymedicine.uw.edu\/chws\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2026\/05\/UW-Medicine-Newsroom-2048x1160.png 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>A UW CHWS study on the maternal and child health (MCH) workforce, led by <a href=\"https:\/\/familymedicine.uw.edu\/chws\/team\/paula-kett\/\">Paula Kett<\/a>, UW CHWS Deputy Director and Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the UW School of Medicine, was recently featured in UW Medicine Newsroom.<\/p>\n<p>The study team <span class=\"TextRun SCXW264708408 BCX0\" lang=\"EN-US\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\" data-contrast=\"auto\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW264708408 BCX0\">developed<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW264708408 BCX0\">\u00a0the<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW264708408 BCX0\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><a class=\"Hyperlink SCXW264708408 BCX0\" href=\"https:\/\/familymedicine.uw.edu\/chws\/publications\/state-variations-in-maternal-and-child-health-workforce-support\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><span class=\"TextRun Underlined SCXW264708408 BCX0\" lang=\"EN-US\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\" data-contrast=\"none\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW264708408 BCX0\" data-ccp-charstyle=\"Hyperlink\">MCH Worker Supportive Policy Index<\/span><\/span><\/a><span class=\"TextRun SCXW264708408 BCX0\" lang=\"EN-US\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\" data-contrast=\"auto\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW264708408 BCX0\">,<\/span><\/span><span class=\"TextRun SCXW264708408 BCX0\" lang=\"EN-US\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\" data-contrast=\"auto\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW264708408 BCX0\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><span class=\"TextRun SCXW264708408 BCX0\" lang=\"EN-US\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\" data-contrast=\"auto\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW264708408 BCX0\">which\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW264708408 BCX0\">measures\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW264708408 BCX0\">how state<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW264708408 BCX0\">\u00a0policies support the\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW264708408 BCX0\">maternal and child health (<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW264708408 BCX0\">MCH<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW264708408 BCX0\">)<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW264708408 BCX0\">\u00a0workforce across four domains: midwifery workforce, doula workforce, labor policy, and economic policy.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"TextRun SCXW56631119 BCX0\" lang=\"EN-US\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\" data-contrast=\"auto\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW56631119 BCX0\">Findings,\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW56631119 BCX0\">recently published in a<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW56631119 BCX0\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><a class=\"Hyperlink SCXW56631119 BCX0\" href=\"https:\/\/familymedicine.uw.edu\/chws\/publications\/state-variations-in-maternal-and-child-health-workforce-support\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em><span class=\"TextRun Underlined SCXW56631119 BCX0\" lang=\"EN-US\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\" data-contrast=\"none\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW56631119 BCX0\" data-ccp-charstyle=\"Hyperlink\">Health Affairs Scholar<\/span><\/span><\/em><span class=\"TextRun Underlined SCXW56631119 BCX0\" lang=\"EN-US\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\" data-contrast=\"none\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW56631119 BCX0\" data-ccp-charstyle=\"Hyperlink\">\u00a0paper<\/span><\/span><\/a><span class=\"TextRun SCXW56631119 BCX0\" lang=\"EN-US\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\" data-contrast=\"auto\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW56631119 BCX0\">\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW56631119 BCX0\">titled \u201cState variations in maternal and child health workforce support<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW56631119 BCX0\">,\u201d<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW56631119 BCX0\">\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW56631119 BCX0\">demonstrate<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW56631119 BCX0\">\u00a0wide<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW56631119 BCX0\">\u00a0variation across states and\u00a0<\/span><\/span>suggest that more supportive policies, such as independent scope of practice for certified nurse midwives and Medicaid reimbursement for doulas may help strengthen the MCH workforce and improve perinatal outcomes, including greater certified nurse midwife supply, fewer maternity care deserts, and lower cesarean delivery rates.<\/p>\n<p>Read the <a href=\"https:\/\/newsroom.uw.edu\/news-releases\/study-ties-states-birth-outcomes-to-workforce-support\/\">UW Medicine Newsroom article<\/a> and check out the cited study below:<\/p>\n<p><blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"FifAFF5S5S\"><a href=\"https:\/\/familymedicine.uw.edu\/chws\/studies\/comparing-state-level-supports-for-the-maternal-and-child-health-workforce-development-of-a-state-level-index\/\">Comparing State-Level Supports for the Maternal and Child Health Workforce: Development of a State-Level Index<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"&#8220;Comparing State-Level Supports for the Maternal and Child Health Workforce: Development of a State-Level Index&#8221; &#8212; UW CHWS\" src=\"https:\/\/familymedicine.uw.edu\/chws\/studies\/comparing-state-level-supports-for-the-maternal-and-child-health-workforce-development-of-a-state-level-index\/embed\/#?secret=EP2kJ6Hv9C#?secret=FifAFF5S5S\" data-secret=\"FifAFF5S5S\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":435,"featured_media":11614,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11613","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/familymedicine.uw.edu\/chws\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11613","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/familymedicine.uw.edu\/chws\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/familymedicine.uw.edu\/chws\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/familymedicine.uw.edu\/chws\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/435"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/familymedicine.uw.edu\/chws\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11613"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/familymedicine.uw.edu\/chws\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11613\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11638,"href":"https:\/\/familymedicine.uw.edu\/chws\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11613\/revisions\/11638"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/familymedicine.uw.edu\/chws\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/familymedicine.uw.edu\/chws\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/familymedicine.uw.edu\/chws\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/familymedicine.uw.edu\/chws\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}