Here you will find publications from the ACTIONS team.
Journal Articles
February 2023
Using Punctuated Equilibrium Theory: Policy Momentum in Traditional Medicare Telehealth Reimbursement During COVID-19
Policy, Politics, and Nursing Practice
Bethany Golden*
January 2023
“Patients want to see people that look like them”: Aspiring midwives of color as resistance to racism through concordant care in the United States
SSM - Qualitative Research in Health (Volume 3)
Amy Alspaugh*, Daniel F.M. Suárez-Baquero*, Renee Mehra*, Nikki Lanshaw*, Jennie Joseph, Maya Combs, Keridwyn Spiller*, Monica R. McLemore*, Linda S. Franck*
January 2023
“‘Oh gosh, why go?’ cause they are going to look at me and not hire”: intersectional experiences of black women navigating employment during pregnancy and parenting
BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth (Volume 23, Issue 17)
Renee Mehra*, Amy Alspaugh*, Jennifer T. Dunn*, Linda S. Franck*, Monica R. McLemore*, Danya E. Keene, Trace S. Kershaw & Jeannette R. Ickovics
November 2022
Emerging approaches to redressing multi-level racism and reproductive health disparities
NPJ Digital Medicine (Volume 5, Issue 169)
Bethany Golden*, Ifeyinwa V. Asiodu, Linda S. Franck*, Celestine Yayra Ofori-Parku*, Daniel F.M. Suárez-Baquero*, Tracy Youngston*, Monica R.McLemore*
August 2022
Understanding the practice of midwifery care in Sacramento
Renee Mehra*, Nikki Lanshaw*, Keri Spiller*, Catherine Woodward Calder, Linda S. Franck*, Joanne Spetz
July 2022
Racism is a motivator and a barrier for people of color aspiring to become midwives in the United States
Health Services Research (Volume 58, Issue 1)
Renee Mehra*, Amy Alspaugh*, Jennie Joseph, Bethany Golden*, Nikki Lanshaw*, Monica McLemore*, Linda S. Franck*
April 2022
The space in the middle: Attitudes of women's health and neonatal nurses in the United States about abortion
Women's Health Issues (Volume 32, Issue 2)
Amy Alspaugh*, Renee Mehra*, Kate Coleman-Minahan, Thomas J. Hoffmann, Candace W. Burton, Meghan Eagen-Torkko, Toni M. Bond*, Linda S. Franck, Liz Cretti Olseon, Nikki Lanshaw*, Jacqueline D. Rychnovsky, Monica R. McLemore*
January 2022
“Police shootings, now that seems to be the main issue” – Black pregnant women’s anticipation of police brutality towards their children
BMC Public Health (Volume 22)
Renee Mehra*, Amy Alspaugh*, Linda S. Franck*, Monica R. McLemore*, Trace S. Kershaw, Jeannette R. Ickovics, Danya E. Keene, Alyasah A. Sewell
December 2021
The Embodiment of Traditional Partería in the Colombian Pacific Region
Qualitative Health Research (Volume 32, Issue 2)
Daniel F. M. Suárez-Baquero*, Jane D. Champion
October 2021
Features and Impact of Trust-Based Relationships Between Community Health Workers and Low-Resource Perinatal Women with Chronic Health Conditions
Maternal and Child Health Journal (Volume 25)
Lisa M. Boyd, Renee Mehra*, Jordan Thomas, Jessica B. Lewis, Shayna D. Cunningham
October 2021
"My 9 to 5 Job Is Birth Work": A Case Study of Two Compensation Approaches for Community Doula Care
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (Volume 18, Issue 20)
Renee Mehra*, Anu Manchikanti Gomez, Stephanie Arteaga, Jennet Arcara, Alli Cuentos, Marna Armstead, Rachel G Logan, Andrea V Jackson, Cassondra J Marshall
October 2021
Traditional partería providing women's health care in Latin America: A qualitative synthesis
International Nursing Review (Volume 68, Issue 4)
Daniel F.M. Suárez-Baquero*, Jane Dimmitt Champion
August 2021
Accompanying the Path of Maternity: The Life History of a Colombian Doula
The Journal of Perinatal Education (Volume 30, Issue 3)
Daniel F.M. Suárez-Baquero*, Jane Dimmitt Champion
July 2021
“Screaming, ‘No! No!’ It was Literally Like Being Raped”: Connecting Sexual Assault Trauma and Coerced Obstetric Procedures
Social Problems
Theresa Morris, Joan H Robinson, Keridwyn Spiller*, Amanda Gomez
June 2021
Universal health care for the United States: A primer for health care providers
Journal of Midwifery & Women's Health (Volume 66, Issue 4)
Amy Alspaugh*, Nikki Lanshaw*, Jan Kriebs, Cheri Van Hoover
May 2021
Structural racism and social distancing: Implications for COVID-19
EClinical Medicine (Volume 35)
Renee Mehra*, Linda S. Franck*
April 2021
"Since I'm a little bit more mature": Contraception and the Arc of Time for Women in Midlife
Women's Midlife Health (Volume 7, Issue 1)
Amy Alspaugh*, Melody D Reibel, Eun-Ok Im, Julie Barroso
March 2021
The Reproductive Health Priorities, Concerns, and Needs of Women in Midlife: A Feminist Poststructuralist Qualitative Analysis
Qualitative Health Research (Volume 3, Issue 4)
Amy Alspaugh*, Eun-Ok Im, Melody D Reibel, Julie Barroso
December 2020
Black Pregnant Women “Get the Most Judgment”: A Qualitative Study of the Experiences of Black Women at the Intersection of Race, Gender, and Pregnancy
Women's Health Issues (Volume 30, Issue 6)
Renee Mehra*, Lisa M. Boyd, Urania Magriples, Trace S. Kershaw, Jeannette R. Ickovics, and Danya E. Keene
September 2020
Considerations for Building Sustainable Community Health Worker Programs to Improve Maternal Health
Journal of Primary Care & Community Health (Volume 11)
Renee Mehra*, Lisa M. Boyd, Jessica B. Lewis, and Shayna D. Cunningham
September 2020
Attitudes of California Registered Nurses About Abortion
Journal of Obstetric Gynecological Neonatal Nursing (Volume 49, Issue 5)
Alicia Swartz*, Thomas J. Hoffmann, Elizabeth Cretti, Candace W. Burton, Meghan Eagen-Torkko, Amy J. Levi, E. Angel Aztlan, and Monica R. McLemore*
April 2020
Exposures to structural racism and racial discrimination among pregnant and early post-partum Black women living in Oakland, California
Stress and Health (Volume 36, Issue 2)
Brittany D. Chambers*, Silvia E. Arabia, Helen A. Arega, Molly R. Altman, Rachel Berkowitz, Sky K. Feuer, Linda S. Franck*, Anu M. Gomez, Kord Kober, Tania Pacheco-Werner, Randi A. Paynter, Aric A. Prather, Solaire A. Spellen, Darcy Stanley, Laura L. Jelliffe-Pawlowski, and Monica R. McLemore*
February 2020
855: Risk of Adverse Birth Outcome Among Black Women With Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology (Volume 222, Issue 1, Supplement)
Brittany D. Chambers*, Rebecca J. Baer, Gretchen Bandoli, Jennifer Felder, Sky K. Feuer, Elena Flowers, Linda Franck*, Anu Manchikanti Gomez, Deborah Karasek, Nichole L. Nidey, Scott P. Oltman, Elizabeth Rogers, Karen Scott, Larry Rand, Kelli K. Ryckman, and Laura L. Jelliffe-Pawlowski
February 2020
CE: An Evidence-Based Update on Contraception
American Journal of Nursing (Volume 120, Issue 2)
Laura E. Britton, Amy Alspaugh*, Madelyne Z. Greene, and Monica R. McLemore*
November 2019
A Transdisciplinary Conceptual Framework of Contextualized Resilience for Reducing Adverse Birth Outcomes
Qualitative Health Research (Volume 30. Issue 1)
Tijen Sumbul, Solaire Spellen, and Monica R. McLemore*
*ACTIONS team member
Op-Eds
Abortion Doesn’t Have to Be an Either-Or Conversation
Amy Alspaugh, Linda S. Franck, Renée Mehra, Daniel Suárez-Baquero, Nikki Lanshaw, Toni Bond, Monica R. McLemore
Scientific American
December 8, 2021
Op-Ed: How to change an American medical system that harms Black maternal health
Monica R. McLemore, Karen A. Scott
Los Angeles Times
May 9, 2021
Work around: Removing barriers to the PhD
Daphne Scott-Henderson
American Nursing Association
November 23, 2021
We Must Extend Postpartum Medicaid Coverage
Jamila K. Taylor, Ifeyinwa V. Asiodu, Renée Mehra, Amy Alspaugh, Toni Bond, Linda S. Franck, Monica R. McLemore
Scientific American
March 11, 2021
If You Don't Want to Provide Abortions, Don't Go Into Healthcare
Monica R. McLemore
Vice
September 3, 2019
Book Chapters
Alspaugh A, Franck LS, Lanshaw N, Suárez-Baquero DFM, Mehra R, Bond T, and McLemore MR. Rejecting the abortion debate binary is essential to moving toward reproductive justice. In: Littlejohn KE and Solonger R, eds. Fighting Mad: Resisting the End of Roe v. Wade. Oakland, CA: University of California; 2024: 307-311.
Crear-Perry J, Hassan A, Oberly T, Rutledge J, Scott-Henderson D, Suárez-Baquero DFM, Walden N, McLemore MR. Designing new futures: Essential wrap-around services for reproductive-justice informed scholars. In: Davis Moss R, ed. Black Women’s Reproductive Health and Sexuality: A Holistic Public Health Approach. Washington, DC: American Public Health Association; 2023. https://doi.org/10.2105/9780875533414ch30.