Talk:Doula

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So what does a doula actually do? EdH 14:54, Mar 19, 2004 (UTC)

Contents 1 What a doula does... 2 External Links 3 Fixing up the article 4 etymology 5 My changes

[edit] What a doula does...

A doula provides various support to the birth couple. She provides emotional support for both the mother, as well as for the father. By this, I mean she helps the mother and father know what is 'normal' and helps interpret the journey of childbirth for them, thus helping remove some of the fear or myths about birth. The doula understands the process of birth very well and helps the mother discover ways to seek out comfort during the labour, as well as help the dad get involved with supporting the mother physically. The doula can offer suggestions for position changes, offer massage, etc. The doula also provides factual information for the pregnant couple, essentially becoming a walking dictionary for the couple when they are faced with a decision. She does NOT provide opinion or make any decisions for the couple. She just offers facts so the couple can make their own informed choice.

The doula does not do anything medical (ie: taking blood pressure, doing vaginal exams, etc.). Once a labour support person does those things, her role changes from being a 'doula' to being a traditional birth attendant or other primary care provider.

[edit] External Links

Should these external links be limited to organizations that help people find doula's rather than links to individual doulas?

I think there are FAR too many external links. Wikipedia is not a link directory. I will remove some in a few days unless there are concerns about doing that. I think we should three or four. If people want to find doulas they can do it via Google Maustrauser 11:17, 11 March 2006 (UTC)

Nobody has complained so I am going to delete many of the external links as per http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:External_links Maustrauser 00:13, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

At present there are (a) way too many links and (b) lots of links to help people find doulas. I actually believe even that is not a function of this encyclopedia. Links to sites that have considerable information on what doulas are, etc., that go well beyond mere directories of them, seem far more appropriate. For example, the link to the UK nonprofit association would fit pretty clearly, while the site on How to Find Doulas in Los Angeles is unnecessary (and easy for anyone to find by using a search engine, anyway). Lawikitejana 02:27, 3 March 2007 (UTC)

Hello, I'd like to add a link to some information on training as a doula in Australia - the information listed on Wikipedia is all US based and it would be great to have some resources covering other parts of the world. I also have a very busy, free, australia-wide doula directory, which people may want to look at if they have decided they would like to hire a doula after reading this. The links are: http://www.bellybelly.com.au/articles/birth/how-to-become-a-doula-in-australia and http://www.bellybelly.com.au/find-a-doula. I hope any of those are suitable and Australia will be able to be represented - Doulas are growing very popular here. Thanks. KellyBZ 07:30, 10 March 2007 (UTC)

Hello, KellyBZ - I definitely appreciate your desire to contribute, but promotion of a particular website is prohibited per WP:EL and WP:SPAM. If the website has unique information to add a worldwide perspective to this article, I would recommend incorporating this information and possibly citing your information as a source, provided the website meets the reliability criteria. RJASE1 ^Talk 07:38, 10 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Fixing up the article

I just did a little bit of work around here, like adding sections, wikifying, and random fixes. However, I am a bit uneasy about the whole section that is now under "Doulas in North America"; even though it's cited, this might be too much text to just take from another source. Anyway a lot of it is redundant, as the work of doulas has already been described. If anyone has some input, I would appreciate it. Otherwise, I am probably going to take out much of this section soon. Thanks, romarin [talk ] 03:16, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

anywhere but america!?! 89.100.10.154 22:38, 9 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] etymology

It seems to me that both the article and the professional doula organizations are confused about the origin of the work "doula"; in Greek (which is my mother tongue) it really means "slave". You might say that this is how the word is used in modern Greek only, but the fact is that the word "doula" is derived from the ancient Greek word "douleia" ("δουλεία") which does mean, without any doubt, "slavery". Indeed, the word "douleia" may be the only word in ancient Greek that describes the concept of slavery. I think it is unfortunate that this body of professionals who indeed offer services which can be extremely helpful for some people, chose this word to describve themselves. 164.143.240.34 12:40, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] My changes

As noted before, the "Doulas in North America" section is in need of rewriting. As it was, it read like an advertisement or a magazine article. As a start, I did the following:

• Removed a few dead links.
• Added a "not verified" template, as the statistics presented in the section do not appear in the cited magazine article; nor should this article be considered a reliable source anyway.
• Removed the rest of the section directing to search engines and guiding career seekers, per Wikipedia guidelines.

--128.139.104.168 23:30, 7 November 2006 (UTC)