A doula is a companion who offers continuous emotional, physical and informational support to birthing people and their partners during labor and birth. This type of support is by design non-medical but has important benefits to medical outcomes.

Here is how Evidence Based Birth summarizes the research on doula support in birth:

“There have been 26 randomized trials that tested the effects of continuous labor support on more than 15,000 people giving birth.

Overall, people who receive continuous support are more likely to have a normal vaginal birth and less likely to have pain medication, negative feelings about childbirth, and Cesareans.

In addition, their labors are shorter and their babies are less likely to have complications at birth or be admitted to a NICU.

In these studies, the best results occurred when the continuous support was provided by a trained doula—someone who was not a staff member at the hospital and not part of the birthing person’s social network.”

Read more at Evidence Based Birth. Another great source on studies of doula care is the The Doula Book: How a Trained Labor Companion Can Help You Have a Shorter, Easier, and Healthier Birth (find it on Amazon here.)