Tanika Eaves ’96, PhD, LCSW, assistant professor of social work, has been honored as a U.S. Fulbright Scholar for 2023-24. Her research will take her to Australia for six months in spring 2024, where she will continue her exploration of health-based inequities in marginalized groups.
“I chose to go to Australia because they are among the nations with the best birth outcomes in the Western world,” said Dr. Eaves, who has focused much of her past scholarship on racial inequities in maternal-infant health and mental health outcomes. “I wanted to understand what they do to achieve those outcomes.”
Dr. Eaves will be working with an associate professor of midwifery in New Castle, near Sydney. The area has a large indigenous population, and recently has had an influx of migrants. “They often don’t have access to the same quality of care and are sometimes dealing with trauma,” she said. “The healthcare system there is beginning to see inequities in terms of health and birth complications.”
Her Fulbright research will compare midwifery outcomes to those of medical deliveries. In the midwifery model, a midwife cares for the patient from the beginning of her pregnancy through to delivery, Dr. Eaves explained, whereas in a typical obstetrical practice, the delivery is likely to be conducted by whichever physician is on call. She will also be assessing bonding and attachment in mothers and infants, and will follow patients three to six months after birth. She is slated to host several guest lectures on the state of birthing and infant healthcare in the U.S. Dr. Eaves’ current research focuses on community-based perinatal providers in Connecticut; that is, midwives, doulas, home visitors, and mental health providers.
“These community providers are in agreement that the hierarchy in medicine, with the medical doctor at the top, means that they often feel silenced,” she said. “And if the provider doesn’t feel empowered, how can the patient feel empowered?” An added problem in the pregnancy and birthing care of people of color is that medical school education can be racist and antiquated. As an example, Dr. Eaves cited a 2016 study that indicated that white medical students and residents believed Black patients had a higher tolerance for pain than white patients. “The erroneous perception,” she said, “is that people of color can tolerate pain more. And if a Black person seeks pain medication, there’s a greater assumption that that person is drug-seeking.”
Fulbright Scholar awards are prestigious and competitive fellowships that provide unique opportunities for scholars to teach and conduct research abroad. Dr. Eaves is joined this year by fellow Fairfield faculty member Brian Walker, PhD, professor of biology, who was awarded a Fulbright grant to study microplastics in the environment.
