Saraswathi Vedam
Biographic Data
| ID | 165665 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Saraswathi Vedam |
| GIVEN NAMES | Saraswathi |
| FAMILY NAME | Vedam |
| SIGNATURE | VEDAM S |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of British Columbia |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-6396-3638 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 15 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 6 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 15 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2017 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Sociodemographic Data Categorization and Health Equity Research: Expressions of Racial and Ethnic Identity in the Giving Voice to Mothers Study
Manifestations of Anti-Black Racism and Worry About Pregnancy and Birthing While Black: A Cross-sectional Secondary Analysis of Giving Voice to Mothers
An Illicit Way to Elicit Public Health Responses to Obstetric Violence: Poetic Inquiry of Open-Ended Survey Data
Sensitive areas of research require sensitive ways of inquiry. Despite the growth of research on obstetric violence, its recognition as a form of gender-based violence continues to be contested and met with resistance. As a problem stemming from gendered power imbalances, we explored obstetric violence from a critical feminist lens, situating the different parts of the exploration such as analysis, presentation and integrated knowledge translatio…
“It seemed like she just wanted me to suffer”: Acts of obstetric racism and birthing rights violations against Black women
Studies that examine obstetric violence and mistreatment during perinatal care demonstrate that Black women experience higher levels of harm and abuse than other racialized groups. Yet these gender-based concepts do not fully recognize the intersectional gender-and race-based harms that Black women experience within the context of quality, safety, and human rights violations in the U.S. healthcare system. We performed qualitative secondary analys…
Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorder and Reproductive Justice: Examining Unmet Needs for Mental Health and Social Services in a National Cohort
We propose incentivizing reimbursement schema for screening and treatment programs; for community-based organizations that provide mental health and social services; and for culture-centered midwife-led perinatal and birth centers. Addressing these gaps is essential to reproductive justice
Planned Home Births in the United States Have Outcomes Comparable to Planned Birth Center Births for Low-Risk Birthing Individuals
OBJECTIVE: There are lingering concerns in the United States about home birth. We used 2 large (n = 50,043; n = 62,984), national community birth registries to compare maternal and neonatal outcomes for planned home versus planned birth center births. METHODS: To compare outcomes by intended birth site, we used logistic regressions, controlling for demographic and pregnancy risk variables. Maternal outcomes included intrapartum or postpartum tran…
Automating Racism: Is Use of the Vaginal Birth After Cesarean Calculator Associated with Inequity in Perinatal Service Delivery
Objective The clinical application of race-adjusted algorithms may perpetuate health inequities. We assessed the impact of the vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC) calculator, which was revised in 2021 to address concerns about equity. The original algorithm factored race and ethnicity and gave lower VBAC probabilities to Black and Hispanic patients. Methods From 2019 to 2020, we conducted a multi-site, ethnographic study consisting of interviews …
“I was able to take it back”: Seeking VBAC after experiencing dehumanizing maternity care in a primary cesarean
In this article, we present findings from a qualitative narrative analysis that examined the pregnancy, primary cesarean, and subsequent birth experiences of women in the United States. Using a maximal variation sampling strategy, we recruited participants via social media and networking to participate in semistructured interviews. Twenty-five women from diverse backgrounds and geographic locations across the U.S. participated, eight self-identif…
Transdisciplinary Imagination: Addressing Equity and Mistreatment in Perinatal Care
Inequities in birth outcomes are linked to experiential and environmental exposures. There have been expanding and intersecting wicked problems of inequity, racism, and quality gaps in childbearing care during the pandemic. We describe how an intentional transdisciplinary process led to development of a novel knowledge exchange vehicle that can improve health equity in perinatal services. We introduce the Quality Perinatal Services Hub, an open a…
Advancing quality and safety of perinatal services in India: Opportunities for effective midwifery integration
India has made significant progress in improving maternal and child health. However, there are persistent disparities in maternal and child morbidity and mortality in many communities. Mistreatment of women in childbirth and gender-based violence are common and reduce women’s sense of safety. Recently, the Government of India committed to establishing a specialized midwifery cadre: Nurse Practitioners in Midwifery (NPMs). Integration of NPMs into…
The Impact of Culturally-Centered Care on Peripartum Experiences of Autonomy and Respect in Community Birth Centers: A Comparative Study
Our study confirms previous findings suggesting that giving birth at a community birth center is protective against experiences of discrimination when compared to care in the dominant, hospital-based system. Culturally-centered care might enhance the experience of perinatal care even further, by decreasing variance in BIPOC experience of autonomy and respect. Policies on maternal health care reimbursement should add focus on making community birt…
Reflecting on Equity in Perinatal Care During a Pandemic
Growing discourse around maternity care during the pandemic offers an opportunity to reflect on how this crisis has amplified inequities in health care. We argue that policies upholding the rights of birthing people, and policies decreasing the risk of COVID-19 transmission are not mutually exclusive. The explicit lack of standardization of evidence-based maternity care, whether expressed in clinical protocols or institutional policy, has disprop…
The Giving Voice to Mothers study: Inequity and mistreatment during pregnancy and childbirth in the United States
BACKGROUND: Recently WHO researchers described seven dimensions of mistreatment in maternity care that have adverse impacts on quality and safety. Applying the WHO framework for quality care, service users partnered with NGOs, clinicians, and researchers, to design and conduct the Giving Voice to Mothers (GVtM)-US study. METHODS: Our multi-stakeholder team distributed an online cross-sectional survey to capture lived experiences of maternity care…
The Mothers on Respect (MOR) index: Measuring quality, safety, and human rights in childbirth
The MOR index is a reliable, patient-informed quality and safety indicator that can be applied across jurisdictions to assess the nature of provider-patient relationships, and access to person-centered maternity care
Informal cash payments for birth in Hungary: Are women paying to secure a known provider, respect, or quality of care
The Mothers on Respect (MOR) index: Measuring quality, safety, and human rights in childbirth
The MOR index is a reliable, patient-informed quality and safety indicator that can be applied across jurisdictions to assess the nature of provider-patient relationships, and access to person-centered maternity care
Informal cash payments for birth in Hungary: Are women paying to secure a known provider, respect, or quality of care
The Giving Voice to Mothers study: Inequity and mistreatment during pregnancy and childbirth in the United States
BACKGROUND: Recently WHO researchers described seven dimensions of mistreatment in maternity care that have adverse impacts on quality and safety. Applying the WHO framework for quality care, service users partnered with NGOs, clinicians, and researchers, to design and conduct the Giving Voice to Mothers (GVtM)-US study. METHODS: Our multi-stakeholder team distributed an online cross-sectional survey to capture lived experiences of maternity care…
Reflecting on Equity in Perinatal Care During a Pandemic
Growing discourse around maternity care during the pandemic offers an opportunity to reflect on how this crisis has amplified inequities in health care. We argue that policies upholding the rights of birthing people, and policies decreasing the risk of COVID-19 transmission are not mutually exclusive. The explicit lack of standardization of evidence-based maternity care, whether expressed in clinical protocols or institutional policy, has disprop…
The Impact of Culturally-Centered Care on Peripartum Experiences of Autonomy and Respect in Community Birth Centers: A Comparative Study
Our study confirms previous findings suggesting that giving birth at a community birth center is protective against experiences of discrimination when compared to care in the dominant, hospital-based system. Culturally-centered care might enhance the experience of perinatal care even further, by decreasing variance in BIPOC experience of autonomy and respect. Policies on maternal health care reimbursement should add focus on making community birt…
Transdisciplinary Imagination: Addressing Equity and Mistreatment in Perinatal Care
Inequities in birth outcomes are linked to experiential and environmental exposures. There have been expanding and intersecting wicked problems of inequity, racism, and quality gaps in childbearing care during the pandemic. We describe how an intentional transdisciplinary process led to development of a novel knowledge exchange vehicle that can improve health equity in perinatal services. We introduce the Quality Perinatal Services Hub, an open a…
Advancing quality and safety of perinatal services in India: Opportunities for effective midwifery integration
India has made significant progress in improving maternal and child health. However, there are persistent disparities in maternal and child morbidity and mortality in many communities. Mistreatment of women in childbirth and gender-based violence are common and reduce women’s sense of safety. Recently, the Government of India committed to establishing a specialized midwifery cadre: Nurse Practitioners in Midwifery (NPMs). Integration of NPMs into…
“I was able to take it back”: Seeking VBAC after experiencing dehumanizing maternity care in a primary cesarean
In this article, we present findings from a qualitative narrative analysis that examined the pregnancy, primary cesarean, and subsequent birth experiences of women in the United States. Using a maximal variation sampling strategy, we recruited participants via social media and networking to participate in semistructured interviews. Twenty-five women from diverse backgrounds and geographic locations across the U.S. participated, eight self-identif…
“It seemed like she just wanted me to suffer”: Acts of obstetric racism and birthing rights violations against Black women
Studies that examine obstetric violence and mistreatment during perinatal care demonstrate that Black women experience higher levels of harm and abuse than other racialized groups. Yet these gender-based concepts do not fully recognize the intersectional gender-and race-based harms that Black women experience within the context of quality, safety, and human rights violations in the U.S. healthcare system. We performed qualitative secondary analys…
Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorder and Reproductive Justice: Examining Unmet Needs for Mental Health and Social Services in a National Cohort
We propose incentivizing reimbursement schema for screening and treatment programs; for community-based organizations that provide mental health and social services; and for culture-centered midwife-led perinatal and birth centers. Addressing these gaps is essential to reproductive justice
Planned Home Births in the United States Have Outcomes Comparable to Planned Birth Center Births for Low-Risk Birthing Individuals
OBJECTIVE: There are lingering concerns in the United States about home birth. We used 2 large (n = 50,043; n = 62,984), national community birth registries to compare maternal and neonatal outcomes for planned home versus planned birth center births. METHODS: To compare outcomes by intended birth site, we used logistic regressions, controlling for demographic and pregnancy risk variables. Maternal outcomes included intrapartum or postpartum tran…
Automating Racism: Is Use of the Vaginal Birth After Cesarean Calculator Associated with Inequity in Perinatal Service Delivery
Objective The clinical application of race-adjusted algorithms may perpetuate health inequities. We assessed the impact of the vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC) calculator, which was revised in 2021 to address concerns about equity. The original algorithm factored race and ethnicity and gave lower VBAC probabilities to Black and Hispanic patients. Methods From 2019 to 2020, we conducted a multi-site, ethnographic study consisting of interviews …
Sociodemographic Data Categorization and Health Equity Research: Expressions of Racial and Ethnic Identity in the Giving Voice to Mothers Study
Manifestations of Anti-Black Racism and Worry About Pregnancy and Birthing While Black: A Cross-sectional Secondary Analysis of Giving Voice to Mothers
An Illicit Way to Elicit Public Health Responses to Obstetric Violence: Poetic Inquiry of Open-Ended Survey Data
Sensitive areas of research require sensitive ways of inquiry. Despite the growth of research on obstetric violence, its recognition as a form of gender-based violence continues to be contested and met with resistance. As a problem stemming from gendered power imbalances, we explored obstetric violence from a critical feminist lens, situating the different parts of the exploration such as analysis, presentation and integrated knowledge translatio…
Maternal and Perinatal Health Interventions (13 works) · Medicine (12 works) · Global Maternal and Child Health (8 works) · Nursing (8 works) · Political science (6 works) · Grief, Bereavement, and Mental Health (5 works) · Psychology (5 works) · Sociology (5 works) · Family medicine (4 works) · Health care (4 works)